Yami no Kōgō
by DivineSyzygy
Summary: A girl with musical talents subjected into having to build a tower. Managing to escape, she heads to the one place she knows she can get stronger to protect her friends; Fairy Tail. There, she meets new people and experiences a new way of life. With Erza, Gray, and many more friends, follow Raven on her journey through life. Rated T for very mild swearing and the usual violence.
1. New Beginnings

**Hello~ This is my first Fairy Tail fanfic and I hope you all like it! The prologue is admittedly short and just the introduction for the story, but aren't all prologues like that!**

 **Anyway, this prologue may be a bit sad... I'm not really sure if it'll bring any emotions forward but there's a hint of suicide at the end so just be careful. Thank you for reading!**

 _Prologue_

Music wafted through the air, gently and softly. It was a melancholic sound. The emotions of the musician were all expressed in the way that the keys made their melody. Black and white were the only colours present to the player who was lost in the world of music and heartbreak. If anyone listening had managed to pull themselves away from the sorrowful tune, they would see the tears that streamed down the pianists face. An expression of grief and mourn would be shown. The song continued until it eventually began to get slower and slower.

Then it stopped.

The poor soul sitting on the piano bench had their hands on the piano keys but would not, no, could not play on. The tears became too much and drowned out the vision of the pianist. The aching in their heart became too much and it continued to pain every time another note was played. Without the sound of the instrument, the sobbing of the pianist soon took over. They removed their hands from the piano to bury their head into them instead.

Time only continued on.

Eventually, even the crying stopped. The pianist had no more tears to cry. They got up from their seat and shuffled to the door of their music room. They had no energy to walk normally. Taking one last look at every single instrument that was settled nicely in the room, they shut off the light and closed the door.

 _No family._

The pianist thought of their parents. Died in a car crash. Their parents were energetic and kind people. Their smile could light up any dark room. The pianist was an only child. The pianist was alone.

 _No friends._

The pianist could clearly remember the day their closest friend spread rumours about them that everyone believed. No one wanted to be their friend anymore. The pianist was alone.

 _No home._

The pianist had a house. But no home. The pianist was alone.

And with that, the pianist took one of their last breaths. Music was the only thing the pianist ever had in their life. And music was the last thing they would ever have before they took their life.

 _Nobody._

. . . . .

In another world, a child was born. The child screamed and cried. But the child was alive and healthy.

"Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous possessive love that grabs at what it can."

~ Yann Martel


	2. A Cruel Start

**Heyo! Chapter One here. I hope you enjoy~**

 **Chapter One**

"Mommy? Daddy?" a little girl called out. She was standing above the bodies of both her parents and not comprehending why there was a red liquid coming out of their bodies. Her parents would just not wake up and being a child, she began to cry thinking it would wake them up. Yet, all her crying did was alert the intruders who had done this to her parents.

"I hear a child!" the first voice called.

"Yea, can't believe we missed this one," a second one shouted back. Then two large men entered the little girls' house and smirked widely before holding the girl down and bounding her. The little girl struggled to get free but she was too young and weak. The first man grabbed a fistful of her black hair and lifted her up as she cried harder.

"Listen here girly, I want no trouble from you," he threatened. The little girl only began screaming and crying louder.

"Ugh, I hate kids. Just knock her out," the second man said and that was the last thing the girl heard before she saw black.

. . . . .

The little girl opened her eyes groggily before rolling over and deciding she wanted to go back to sleep. As she rolled over though, she realized she was on the cold, hard floor. She sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before looking around. Only then did the previous events come rushing back to her. Tears welled up in her eyes and she started sobbing.

"Mommy!? Where are you?" she called out.

"Hey, hey it'll be alright," an old man's voice called back to her. She stopped crying to listen better.

"Who are you?" she whimpered.

"My name is Rob but most people here have started calling me Grandpa Rob," the elderly man explained.

"Where's mommy?" the little girl asked. Rob was patient with the young girl, knowing how hard all of this was.

"She's in a better place now but she couldn't take you with her," he said, trying to be gentle with her.

"And daddy?" the girl asked.

"He didn't want your mom to be lonely, so he went along with her," Rob said.

"But what about me?" the girl cried out.

"They had no choice honey. What's your name?" he tried asking to change the subject.

"My… my name's Raven," the young girl said quietly.

"That's a beautiful name," Rob said kindly.

"Mommy said it's because of my black hair," Raven said.

"You must have some very pretty hair. Why don't you try getting some sleep now?" he said.

"Where are we?" she asked. Rob sighed. The question everyone always asks and the hardest one to have to tell.

"We're in the Tower of Heaven. We're here to help build it," Rob said somberly.

"Tower of Heaven? That's a pretty name. Ok... goodnight Rob-nii," Raven said, a little more cheerful now that she had a friend. She had no idea of the hardships that were to come.

' _A pretty name, eh? A pretty name for such a horrendous tower,_ ' Rob thought as he pitied another poor child who was enslaved here. He couldn't help but wonder when she would perish like many others had.

. . . . .

"Rise and shine! It's time to work!" a man shouted. He was wearing the same thing the men who had captured Raven was wearing. What stood out the most was the strange plate covering his eyes that had an even stranger symbol on it.

"Work? What work?" Raven asked innocently. She was pulled out of her cell and pushed into the crowd of people who were moving outside. Immediately, stones were placed in front of her and she was ordered to carry them to a place that was currently being constructed. At first Raven was hesitant to follow along.

"Hey! Get back to work!" one of the strange men shouted at a young boy. The man pulled out a whip and began hitting the poor boy. It was merely a tactic to get all the other children to work too and it worked. Raven immediately got to work.

One rock after another, it seemed as though her pile of work never ended. Finally, there was a loud ringing sound followed by a huge collective sigh of relief. Everyone shuffled back to their cells and Raven trailed along. Of course, only being there once, she didn't know where her cell was. She wandered along, afraid of running into any of what she had officially dubbed, the strange men.

"Raven?" a voice called. She instantly recognized it.

"Rob?" she called back. She spotted the source of the voice and her eyes gazed upon a very old looking man with white hair and no shirt on.

"Come this way, quickly," he said and took her hand gently in his, pulling her along. Raven followed quietly. "Luckily, your cell is right next to ours," Rob said.

"Ours?" the young girl asked.

"Yes, after the newer children come in, they are placed in their own cells for a few days. After a while, they are moved into larger cells that hold more people," he explained.

"I want to be in your cell," Raven said.

"We can only hope," Rob said as they arrived to their cells. He placed Raven in her cell and then went into his own. Ten minutes later, food was brought to everyone. Of course, it didn't even remotely _look_ like food but Raven was starving after not eating for almost a full day and was grateful for what she got.

"Little girl, get out. You're moving," a man shouted, startling Raven. She quickly stood up and followed the man. She knew better than to wait for him to say it twice as she eyed the weapon he had fastened to his belt. Whether luck was finally on her side, or someone above was finally pitying her, she was placed in Rob's cell.

"Rob!" she called out and ran up to the elderly man with a smile.

"What a sweet smile," he said with his own smile. Though, he couldn't help but wonder how long it would last.

"Who's this?" a boy with messy black hair asked.

"Everyone, this is Raven. She is new here," Rob introduced the young girl to everyone.

"My name is Wally!" the same boy introduced. Soon enough, everyone with enough energy came up to Raven and introduced themselves. Raven met; Wally, Susan, Sho, Erza, Kumiko, Jellal, and Kai.

"Now, now, it's time for sleep. You all need your energy," Rob said.

"Please tell us a story," Kumiko begged. Rob chuckled.

"Alright, how about one from when I was in my guild," he said.

"What's a guild?" Raven asked curiously.

"My dear, a guild is a second home. It's a place you can go to if you have nowhere else to go. It's a place where your friends and family will always welcome you home. I myself come from a guild known as Fairy Tail," Rob said. And then he went off to tell the little children of the time he and his team went on a mission where they needed to take down a giant beast. The children all listened intently and by the end, all had smiles on.

. . . . .

A full week had gone by and already Raven despised the place she was put in. But young Raven was always one to look at the brighter side of things. She had found so many friends; Rob, Wally, and Susan in particular were her closest friends. They were all eating peacefully in their cell when the door opened and a young girl was thrown inside. It was silent until Rob spoke.

"And what's your name my little dear?" he asked kindly.

"M-Milliana," the girl with very short brown hair stuttered. Then she began bawling. Raven, being one who was starting to understand everyone's pain, walked over to Milliana and put a hand on her head.

"Hey, it'll be alright," she said quietly. It was exactly what Rob had said to her. Milliana looked up and sniffled. Then from the other side of the room, Sho snapped. He started to sob loudly and soon enough, the whole cell of children were crying. It spread and sobs could be heard from other cells too. Rob desperately walked around and tried to soothe everyone but it was too much for him and he had to go sit down. Raven stood there with tears in her eyes and looked around. A determined gleam sparked in her eyes and she took a deep breath.

"Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby," Raven began singing. ( **watch?v=m2xnPSRSSzU** )

The children's sobs turned into sniffling as Raven increasingly became louder. She didn't know where these words were coming from, but it felt natural.

 _"Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby  
Back to the years of loo-li lai-lay  
And I'll sing you to sleep and I'll sing you tomorrow  
Bless you with love for the road that you go_

 _May you sail far to the far fields of fortune  
With diamonds and pearls at your head and your feet  
And may you need never to banish misfortune  
May you find kindness in all that you meet_

 _May there always be angels to watch over you  
To guide you each step of the way  
To guard you and keep you safe from all harm  
Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay_

 _May you bring love and may you bring happiness  
Be loved in return to the end of your days  
Now fall off to sleep, I'm not meaning to keep you  
I'll just sit for a while and sing loo-li, lai-lay_

 _May there always be angels to watch over you  
To guide you each step of the way  
To guard you and keep you safe from all harm  
Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay..."_

By the end of it, the whole tower was silent. Raven looked around to see the majority of the children sleeping and the rest drifting off into a peaceful sleep. Rob looked at the child with soft eyes. She had sung so beautifully. He watched Milliana, as the young girl snored softly in the raven haired girls' arms.

"You sleep now too," he said gently to Raven. The young girl gave him a wide smile and laid down next to Milliana before drifting off herself.

. . . . .


	3. Rebellion

**School is so hard and stressful.**

 **Chapter Two**

The days passed by quickly and Raven fell into quite a monotonous schedule. She'd wake up groggily to the banging of the strange men. Then they were immediately put to work no matter how tired, hungry, or injured they were. After a full day of work, they were all taken back to their cells were they were fed and had a little bit of time to just talk amongst themselves. When night time came, Raven would assess the mood and if needed, she would sing her same lullaby to everyone. If not, then she would just fall asleep with Milliana at her side. The young girl had really taken a liking to Raven. The black haired girl quickly made friends with everyone and began to adore Milliana and another red haired girl named Erza.

On one particular day though, Raven learned of Magic.

"Yes, everything begins from you believing with your heart. You can think of tarots, faith, prayer, and such as Magic. It's a miracle that only true believers can experience. Only those who believe that Magic exists, believe in themselves, and believe that they can coexist with everything in nature can use such a thing as Magic," Rob said. Raven was instantly mesmerized by the idea of magic.

"I want to learn Magic!" she declared.

"Me too! Maybe we can use it to get out of here," Erza said, more determined than ever.

"We can never get out of here," Susan said dejectedly. That soured the mood and everyone went silent.

"I will get out!" Kai shouted. Everyone was taken aback at the normally silent boy. They watched as he stood by the cell bars for hours until one of the strange men walked by to check on everything. Quicker than anyone had ever seen Kai move, he grabbed the keys off the belt of the man. It was dead silent as they all watched the strange man keep walking. Kai turned around and winked at everyone. He began to unlock the door.

"Wait, plan it out first!" Jellal whispered to Kai, trying not to attract any attention.

"No! I'm free!" Kai said before running out of the cell.

"Kai!" Kumiko tried to call him back.

They never saw Kai after that.

. . . . .

"What does this word say?" Rob asked Raven, patiently.

"Um, forest," she said, a bit hesitant.

"Yes very good! And this one?" Rob continued to ask. For months, Rob had been teaching all the children the basic skills of reading and writing by drawing in the dust of their cell. Raven took an especial liking to learning and would spend all the time she got learning what Rob had taught them. Because of this, Rob ended up spending more time with Raven. She was a fast learner which made Rob very proud.

"When I get out of here, I want to read every book I can!" Raven said with a large smile. Rob could only end up smiling along with Raven.

"Then you could read me a story," he said.

"You bet I will!" she said cheerfully.

. . . . .

"Rae… I can't sleep," Milliana told the black haired girl. Raven looked at Milliana in surprise.

"Rae?" she questioned. Milliana grinned.

"Yea! It's your nickname," she explained. Raven was quiet for a short second before she grinned.

"I like it!" she said with a giggle.

"Will you sing for me?" Milliana asked quietly.

"I don't want to wake anyone else up though," Raven said hesitantly.

"You won't. In fact, I think we'd all like to hear your singing," a voice spoke up from the other side of the cell.

"Wally, you too?" Raven said in surprise.

"Me too," Susan added in. Eventually, everyone began asking Raven to sing to them.

"Alright, alright, I will," she gave in and said.

"Can you sing the first lullaby you sang for me?" Milliana asked. Even though Raven had made it up on the spot, she was able to remember each and every word, and even the melody. The song was then known as 'Raven's Lullaby'.

That night, everyone slept peacefully.

. . . . .

"What's your last name Wally?" Raven asked. She had gotten almost everyone else's.

"Why?" he asked in confusion.

"So when I get out of here, I'll be able to find you," she said with a cheery smile.

"It's Wally Buchanan," he said with a blush. Her smile made him warm inside. "What's yours?" he asked back.

"Oh uh… I… Well I don't remember it," Raven said. Erza heard that from where she was listening in and walked over.

"We can give you one! Jellal gave me mine. I'm Erza Scarlet because of the colour of my hair," Erza said with a grin.

"You can give me one?" Raven asked, tilting her head.

"Yup, but it has to be something that relates to you," Jellal said, walking over. All the children crowded over and began to think of a last name for Raven.

"How about Celeste!? Because her eyes are a pretty blue and I'm pretty sure Celeste is blue in some language," Sho said excitedly. Raven had to agree Celeste was a pretty name but she didn't want it as a last name.

"My first name is already after the colour of my hair so I want to stay away from colours," Raven said.

"Well, how about Harmonia after harmony because your singing gives us all hope and peace?" Jellal said after a while. Raven didn't even have to think about it. She gave them all a huge grin.

"Raven Harmonia? I love it!" she said.

. . . . .

Days ultimately turned into months and it seemed as though all hope was lost. No one dared to rebel and the atmosphere became darker and darker until there were rarely smiles all around.

"Guys, I have a plan," Sho said one day. Sho, the quiet and frail child, was speaking aloud for once. Everyone listened in, even if they knew the plan would never work. In the end, the plan actually had potential and they decided to follow along.

Day after day, when all the work on the tower was done, they all went to the cell and scraped at the wall. Something resembling a hole managed to take shape and it seemed like the plan would actually work. No one really noticed, but a small spark of hope was beginning to grow within everyone.

All hope was lost when they were caught.

. . . . .

"Who's idea was this!?" one of the strange men shouted. Sho was bawling his eyes out, too frozen and scared to confess. Raven watched in terror at the scene that was unfolding. She saw Erza look at Sho and gave a look of resignation.

"It was-" she started but was cut off.

"It was my idea!" Jellal shouted, glaring at the strange men.

"Oh how brave. Nice try though. I know it was the red head over there," the fat strange man said and stumbled over to grab her.

"ERZA!" they all shouted. She looked at them from the arm of the man who was holding her. And she smiled.

"Don't worry. Like Jellal said, it'll be fine," she said. Raven stood there, motionless as she watched one of her friends get taken away. Not only that, but she smiled and comforted everyone else while she was being carried away.

. . . . .

They waited for what seemed like ages before Jellal snapped. He punched the wall and screamed. When they were taken out to work, he managed to sneak away. Raven wanted to follow along but she knew that the more people there were, the harder it would be to sneak around.

"Come back safely," she begged.

"Don't worry, I will," he said determinedly. He gave her a reassuring smile and then ran.

They worked the whole day without seeing either Erza or Jellal.

. . . . .

Everyone was finally back in their cells.

"I wonder if nee-san is ok," Sho said quietly.

"Rob-ojichan, you came back alive from that room, right?" Simon asked.

"What in the world is that place…?" Wally asked.

"I think Erza-chan should be fine. As long as you have a strong heart, they can't steal your soul," Rob said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Simon asked but his question was never answered.

"Get in there!" one of the strange men said and pushed a girl in.

"Nee-san!" Sho shouted.

"Erza…" Simon said.

"Hey, where's Jellal?" Wally pressed for an answer.

"Let her be. Just be glad she's back alive at this point…" Rob said. Raven was quiet the whole time but stumbled over to Erza. She fell on her knees and brought Erza into a hug. The red haired girl was silent.

"But…" Wally said, wanting to know where Jellal was.

"They must have taken a replacement," Rob said, letting the children come to the conclusion themselves that the strange men had taken Jellal. Raven listened in while humming softly to Erza and rocking her back and forward.

"No more…I can't stand this anymore!" Sho shouted. He started tearing up and then sobbing loudly. He ran over to Rob and took comfort in a hug.

"Quiet in there!" a strange man commanded.

"Calm down Sho," Simon tried to comfort him.

"It'll be alright… I'm here beside you," Rob said.

"Time to work!" a strange man said with a terribly evil grin.

"NO!" Sho cried out. Erza tensed in Raven's arms before gently pushing them away. She stood up. She jolted away and grabbed a shovel before swinging it viciously at both the strange men in the cell. At such force, they both tumbled out and dust flew up.

"Erza, what are you-" Simon asked but was cut off by Erza herself.

"Take their weapons! If we obey them, or run away, we'll never be free! We have to fight! For our freedom, rise up and fight!" she shouted to everyone. That seemed to snap everybody into action. Raven herself was frightened, but even more so, she was determined. She did _not_ want to stay in that cell for the rest of her life. She was the first to grab a shovel from the ground.

"I will not run!" she screamed. Together, she and Erza ran out. Slowly, more and more people joined in until everyone was in.

"Don't be afraid!" someone shouted. Words of encouragement flew out and the spark of hope turned into a fire.

It was an all-out battle in which lives were indeed lost. Raven ran out and lost track of all her friends. All she could see were the strange men. All the labor she had done had given her strength. It didn't take much effort to take the shovel that she was used to digging up dirt with and turning it into a weapon to blow down anyone who stood in her way. She would be free.

It took a solid twenty minutes of attack for the slaves to finally knock down all the guards in their area. Milliana was wrapping Sho's arm while Wally and Simon were cheering. Along the way, Raven managed to find a sword and was cleaning the blood off of that.

"We need to liberate sector 8 today! Everyone, keep it up!" Erza shouted.

"Impossible! The guard is too tight there!" someone shouted back.

"But we have to hurry and save Jellal or…" she trailed off.

"You ain't got a prayer, Simon-san?" Wally teased Simon. Raven had no clue what that meant but she saw Simon blush. That prompted Simon to speak.

"Erza! Are- Are you in love with Jellal!?" he blurted out. Raven tilted her head in confusion. She loved everyone. Why wouldn't Erza love Jellal too? Erza was taken aback.

"Why are you bringing that up now? Now is not the time to…" she said with her own blush.

"I've always…" Simon started, his blush turning a deeper red. Before he could continue, there was a huge explosion. Everyone flew up in the air and landed harshly on the ground before rolling over.

"Simon!" Wally shouted as he was the one who was hit the hardest.

"Oh no!" Milliana cried.

"It's the Magic Troops!"


	4. Happiness

**Heyo! Chapter three now. I hope you enjoy it! I agree that I moved through this arc fast but the main story starts at Fairy Tail.**

 **Chapter Three**

"Simon!" Sho shouted. He was on the ground, unconscious.

"Hey, wake up!" Milliana called.

The Magic Troops floated towards them. They were horrendous looking creatures. They resembled humans with the weird plate things that the strange men had on their eyes too. Their skin was a sickly lavender colour and they had on unusual hats and bandages on their arms and legs. They frightened Raven. The Magic Troops opened their mouths wide and red Magic circles appeared. Rob had taught Raven what a magic circle was. And she knew, this was not good. She watched in fear as the circles disappeared and a glowing light grew in their mouths. Then they let the light shoot out of their mouths. The attack hit the closest slaves to them and they were instantly destroyed.

"Run!" someone shouted and everyone began running the opposite way.

"Don't! Everyone, don't give up! You've got to fight!" Erza screamed. Raven was frozen in place. On one hand, she wanted to stay and fight but on the other hand, she knew she needed to run for survival.

"Outta the way!" someone shouted and accidentally knocked Erza over. This broke Raven out of her reverie. She ran over to Erza and fell on her knees.

"Erza!" she shouted, hoping the girl could hear her over the blasts.

"Wait… Save Jellal…" Erza said weakly to the people running.

"We will save Jellal!" Raven shouted to Erza. The red haired girl looked up at Raven with tears in her eyes. The Magic Troops came floating towards Erza and Raven.

"Erza nee-san, Raven nee-san!" Sho screamed.

"Erza!" Wally shouted.

"Raven!" Milliana called. They were watching from the distance with Simon in their arms, still unconscious. The Magic Troops let out a blast directly at them. Raven could only cover Erza with her own arms and shut her eyes.

But nothing hit them.

Raven opened her eyes and then widened them further when she saw Rob standing in front of them with his arms wide open.

"Rob-ojichan!" they both shouted.

"My magical power may have withered, but I can still protect my friends!" he said, arms still protectively wide open. "I will not allow such young life to perish!"

He spun his arms and a spiral of fire shot out of his arms. It was huge and powerful, even taking down a part of the tower with the Magic Troops.

"Woah," Wally said in awe.

"He reflected the Magic back," Sho analyzed, also amazed. Then Rob fell to the ground, shaking. Erza and Raven crawled to him.

"What's the matter?" Erza asked, fearing for Rob.

"Perhaps I've been of some use, despite me being such a decrepit old man. For a wizard, one's power is the same as their life energy itself. And when this old man lost his magic, I was brought to this sorry state. But Raven, Erza, your possibilities are still endless!" he managed to croak out.

"Ojichan…" Raven said quietly. A group of strange men were making their way over and Magic Troops were just above the group.

" _It's your heart._ _Yes, everything begins from you believing with your heart. You can think of tarots, faith, prayer, and such as Magic. It's a miracle that only true believers can experience. Only those who believe that Magic exists, believe in themselves, and believe that they can coexist with everything in nature can use such a thing as Magic,_ " _Rob had said to Raven and Erza._

 _"_ _Magic? How wonderful! When I grow up, I want to become a witch on a broom and fly in the sky!" Raven recalled Erza had said. "And I'll let you ride too, ojichan!" Erza was smiling brightly._

"I didn't think I'd see a smile like that in a place like this," Rob started.

 _"_ _If you get out of here, what would you like to do?" Raven had once asked Rob. He chuckled, knowing that he was already too old. But he decided to indulge her._

 _"_ _I would want to grow a huge garden with all sorts of flowers," Rob made up on the spot but Raven was amazed._

 _"_ _Wow! When I get out, I'm going to sing for everyone!" Raven shouted and then began to hum. Rob chuckled again._

"And I didn't think I'd hear anything as beautiful as that either," he finished.

"Ojichan…" Raven and Erza said sadly.

"Freedom is inside your heart," Rob said. _I'm sure your dreams will come true, Erza, Raven._

"ROB-OJICHAN!" Raven and Erza shouted as the Magic Troops let out a blast so large that all Rob could do was protect the two young girls. The last thing they saw was the Fairy Tail insignia on Rob's back before he was turned into nothing. The two girls were pushed back, screaming.

"Erza! Raven! Retreat!" Wally screamed.

"Nee-san!" Sho shouted at both of them. But they were both frozen there, staring at the lonely shackles and dust that used to be Rob. Erza began shaking. Raven turned to her as she felt something well up. She saw Erza's head fall down before she lifted it. Her one eye widened as a furious look settled in. Her hair started to float and a giant magenta Magic circle appeared below them. Erza shrieked extremely loud and didn't stop as rocks began to float above the Magic circle. Then the weapons around them began to glow and float. Erza flung her arms at the enemies in front of her and the weapons followed. She took them all out in that one move.

"Woah… Erza can use magic…" Wally said, amazed.

"I will gain my freedom! Follow me!" Erza shouted. Everyone cheered and followed her as she ran to sector 8 while Raven sat there, still in shock. She had lost the closest thing she had to a parent, Rob. She slowly stood up and looked around. Then her eyes widened as she spotted a green mop of hair. She ran towards it.

"Susan! Susan, no!" she screamed. She fell to her knees in front of the body and picked it up gently. The poor girl was dead. Raven started crying as she hugged the body. After a few minutes, she finally placed the body gently on the ground. She picked up the sword that was on the ground and glared. There was a hardened look in her eyes as she ran forward to fight.

Half an hour later and they had done it. They were finally free. Bodies littered the ground as many were sacrificed. It was a time of happiness for freedom but sadness for everyone they had lost.

"I'm going to get Jellal," Erza said to Raven. Erza had apparently taken a liking to Raven and unconsciously made her the second in command. Raven nodded.

"I'll get everyone on the boats and we'll be prepared to leave as soon as you arrive," Raven said. She placed a hand on Erza's shoulder. "We're free."

Erza finally smiled. "We're free."

. . . . .

Twenty minutes later and Raven had gotten everyone settled onto the boats. She was waiting on the ground for Erza and Jellal. With nothing to do, she grinned. It's time to make her dream come true. So she took a deep breath and began to sing, prompting several people to watch the little girl from the railing of the boats.

She started off humming the beginning and snapping her fingers. Then…

 _Hold on to me  
Don't let me go  
Who cares what they see?  
Who cares what they know?  
Your first name is Free  
Last name is Dom  
Cause you still believe in where we're from  
Man's red flower  
It's in every living thing  
Mind use your power  
Spirit use your wings_

 _Freedom! Freed-_

"Get off the boats!" a voice shouted, cutting off everyone who had joined in by clapping. It was Jellal! They stared at him in confusion. The people inside of the larger boats began to pour out too.

"Why?" someone asked.

"Where's Erza!?" Raven asked him.

"The ships are all trapped with bombs! Get off!" he shouted, ignoring my question. The people on the boat didn't want to risk their lives and they jumped off the boats. Just as they did, the boats did indeed explode.

"Where's Erza!?" Raven questioned Jellal even louder. He looked down sadly.

"She… she betrayed us!" he shouted to everyone. "This… this is the fate of those who don't learn how to use Magic properly! She was drunk off of the power… she wanted to rid herself of her past and her memories… she left."

It was silent. Then…

"No… She wouldn't do that…" Sho said, tears in his eyes. "Nee-san…"

"I don't believe it!" Raven shouted, startling everyone.

"I know it's hard to believe… but I saw it with my own eyes," Jellal said. Raven just couldn't believe. She began to look for holes in his tale, any hole at all.

"She said she was going to save you! If she didn't, who did!?" she asked. Everyone was silent as they waited for Jellal's answer.

"She did. She wanted me to leave with her… just us two. I, of course objected! I wanted to save everyone! But now I know what we must do! This tower must be built!" Jellal's voice increasingly rose. Raven bit her lip. She decided she would have a chat with him on her own.

"I don't want to!" Wally shouted.

"You must! They never gave us a reason for why we were building this tower, but now I know. This tower will lead us to heaven! This tower will bring us fortune! Let's build it together!" Jellal said.

Raven was uneasy about the whole thing.

. . . . .

That night, everyone had a feast. They decided it was best to see how things were going to go for a few days. Maybe things would be different as they built the tower this time. Jellal apparently 'let' the people who wanted to leave, leave. But there were no boats, so they had no way of leaving. Instead of celebrating with everyone else, Raven went to go mourn Rob and Susan as well as think about where Erza was. Her other friends had decided to stay because they trusted Jellal. It wasn't that Raven didn't trust Jellal though. She just had a weird feeling in her gut that was telling her to run.

"I see you're not at the feast," a voice popped up from behind her. Speak of the devil and he shall arrive.

"What happened exactly with Erza?" Raven asked, getting straight to the point.

"…I killed her," Jellal said. Raven jerked her head towards him, with her eyes wide open.

"W-what!?" she asked. Then she saw Jellal's crazed smile. She was too far away to scream for help.

"Her fault really. I told her that if she wanted to live, she could go free. She just couldn't say a word about the tower to anyone or get close to the tower ever. Well she could but then everyone would die," he said, still cheerfully smiling. "Of course, she disagreed with me."

"I… I don't believe you!" Raven shouted at him.

"It doesn't matter. I have to kill you now too," Jellal said. Then he lifted his palm to her. A purple Magic circle appeared and suddenly, Raven couldn't move. Her body was covered in strange red writing and she was glowing purple. Then Jellal jerked his hand to the side. Raven followed as she flew into a stone wall. She fell to the ground and groaned.

"Why!?" she croaked out.

"To please my God, Zeref!" he said. He raised his hand again. Raven froze. Then her mind thought of everyone she loved. Her parents, Rob, Erza, Susan, Kai. They were all gone. And Jellal wanted to continue this horror!?

 _'_ _It's your heart. You just need to believe in the Magic,' Rob said._

Raven raised her head from the ground. Then she felt something rise up in her. _I can do this._ She raised her hand up and shut her eyes. _I can do this!_ A black Magic circle formed at her hands and they began to glow black while the outlines of her hands turned white. Rocks began to turn black with white outlines. They rose higher and higher until she thrust out her hands towards Jellal. The rocks followed.

"You can use Magic too?" Jellal asked in surprise.

"I should be asking you that! When did you learn it!? When you were killing Erza!?" she shouted her question. Jellal just chuckled.

"Be gone," he simply said. Raven was suddenly covered in red bindings again. Jellal raised his hands and then jerked them to the side again. This time, she ended up falling into the ocean. Jellal peered in once and shrugged his shoulders. He knew she couldn't swim and the only other option was getting back onto the island, so he left her.

Raven struggled to get air. She was flailing her arms and kicking her legs but she didn't know how to balance herself in the water. She kept going under the surface. Raven was terrified. She kept thrashing about until she finally was able to grasp something. It was a piece of driftwood from the destroyed boat. It wasn't enough for her to sit on comfortably but she was able to heave the upper portion of her body onto it. She began coughing until all the water was eventually cleared from her lungs. She rested her head on the piece of wood but it still ached. Her mind was swimming and she couldn't think without her head killing. Somehow, she ended up passing out from the exhaustion.

. . . . .

Raven opened her eyes, only to find herself on a beach. She had no clue where she was but she had an idea of where she was going.

 _Fairy Tail._

The first thing she did was get up and walk. Where she needed to go, she had no idea. But she wasn't stupid. She knew she needed food and directions to survive. She stumbled as she walked through the sand, her tears preventing her from seeing where she was going. The beach was empty, so she couldn't ask anyone there for help. Luckily, there was a house with its lights on just off the shore of the beach. It seemed as this was a residential area. Raven went up to the house and knocked on the door. She waited a minute before she saw the door open.

"Hello?" a young woman said. She looked like she was in her mid-twenties.

"Hello Miss, I was just wondering if you could please give me directions to the wizard guild, Fairy Tail," Raven asked politely. The young woman was taken aback by how young the girl in front of her was yet had such a mature way of talking.

"Oh uh yes, it's a three days walk from here but there is a train you can take. That would make the trip just under four hours," the woman said kindly.

"Thank you," Raven said with a smile and began walking away. The young woman watched her go and bit her lip. She saw the bloodshot eye the young girl had and saw that there was no possible way the young girl had any money.

"Wait!" the young woman called. She couldn't let the little girl go alone. Raven turned around.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I know you don't know me, but you are a young child and I couldn't possibly let you go alone. Please stay the night and I'll take you to the train station tomorrow and pay for it," the young woman blurted out.

"What…? No, I couldn't possibly do that," Raven stuttered out. Such kindness from someone she didn't know. The thought of the young woman betraying her didn't even pass through her mind.

"Please, I insist. My name is Maria," the young woman said. Raven thought about it for a bit. Where else could she go?

"Alright… thank you very much. My name is Raven," the young girl said. She hesitantly walked back to the house.

Maria was patient with Raven. She was shocked to see that the little girl ate so little and was so skinny. She immediately sent her to take a shower and laid out some more warm food for Raven. Maria didn't have any spare clothes that would fit Raven so she took one of her longer shirts and let Raven wear that. Then she tied a belt around the waist so it was like a mini dress.

"Where's your family?" Maria asked. Raven looked at the ground sadly.

"They've all passed away. But my grandpa was in Fairy Tail so I figured I could go there and start a new life," Raven said, spinning the truth.

 _I told her that if she wanted to live, she could go free. She just couldn't say a word about the tower to anyone or get close to the tower ever. Well she could but then everyone would die._

She remembered what Jellal said and she was positive that this remained the same for her. Maria gave her a sympathetic look.

"I understand what you mean. My parents passed away when I was younger too. But that was how I met my fiancé and we moved here. I miss them, but I'm also happy. My fiancé is on a trip for a week but I know he'll come back safe," Maria said.

"Does that mean I'll find happiness too?" Raven asked depressingly. She was a broken girl. Maria could see this and patted the girl on the head.

"Life is all about taking chances, appreciating the memories, learning from the past, and finding happiness," Maria started. "You've had a rough beginning but don't let that stop you from finding your deserved ending."

Raven thought it over and over. Even when Maria told her to go to sleep, she laid down in the bed provided and just thought about what Maria said.

She wanted to be happy.


	5. Reunion

._.

Chapter Four

The next morning, Maria fed the young girl breakfast and then took her to the train station.

"Thank you for everything. I'll never forget you," Raven said honestly. Maria chuckled.

"I'm just glad I met you. It's hard to be appreciative for what you have until it's gone," she said.

"Hopefully I see you again," Raven said.

"Yes, indeed. Here's your train ticket and some jewels so you can buy yourself a meal and some other things such as clothes when you arrive in Magnolia," Maria said. Raven was about to protest but Maria gave her a look that meant she _had_ to take it. Raven accepted the jewels. Then she hugged the older woman.

"Bye," Raven said quietly. Maria hugged the young girl back.

"I'll see you," she said. Then she waved as she watched the young girl head off. Raven got into the train and sat there, looking through the window to wave back at Maria. She had never been on a train before and was getting excited. Her life was beginning. Maybe she could find some way to save her friends at Fairy Tail.

. . . . .

The train came to a stop with a jolt. Raven had been peering out of the window the whole time and was now staring at the town of Magnolia. It was a beautiful place but it was also very populated, making Raven slightly nervous. She stood up with her tiny pouch filled with jewels and got off the train. She smoothed out the black shirt-dress that was given to her by Maria and adjusted the thin beige belt that rested on her hips. She had no shoes and Maria couldn't find a pair to give to her, but she was alright with that.

She took her first steps in Magnolia and looked around, amazed. She sifted through the money Maria had given her and she decided she should save it. Now all she needed was directions to Fairy Tail. Raven looked around for the kindest looking person and saw an elderly man at a sweets shop. She went over to him.

"Excuse me, Mister," Raven asked. He look down at her and smiled sweetly.

"Yes my dear? What can I get for you?" he asked.

"I was just wondering if you could give me directions to Fairy Tail please," she asked. The elderly man chuckled.

"That rambunctious place, huh? Of course, it's a little bit of a long walk from here. You need to go straight down this road until you reach a river. Then turn left and follow the river until you see a restaurant with a green roof. Its name is…" he started. The directions went on for a while, but the elderly man was kind enough to even write it all out with pictures too.

"Thank you so much!" Raven said. She felt bad that she didn't even purchase anything from his shop so she went around and picked out a bag filled with colourful gummies. The old man chuckled.

"I'll make it a hundred jewels for you," he said with a wink. Raven's face lit up and she paid the man.

"Thank you! Bye ojisan!" she said happily before leaving his store.

Raven walked all day, taking many breaks along the way to look around Magnolia and even play around. She hadn't been able to mess around for so long after being enslaved. She had nearly finished the pack of gummies when she the guild came in sight.

"Wow…" Raven whispered out in awe. She approached the doors and heard laughter.

"You heard the lady," a voice called out from inside.

"She got you there, Gray," another one laughed. Everything else was muffled. Then Raven heard some screams. They stopped and the laughing got even stronger. Then Raven paused. Didn't she need to know some Magic before joining a guild?

Raven stepped away from the guild and frowned. Well, she did know Magic but she only used it once. She looked around and spotted a forest. Walking over to the forest, she decided she should at least learn how to create that black Magic circle again before she joined. She pouted. Raven was really excited to join the guild.

Once she entered the forest, she set down her jewels and gummies. Then she sat on the ground.

"It's your heart, huh," she said, recalling what Rob said. Then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She lifted her palm outward and pointed it towards a tree. _Believe._ She felt something bubble up inside her and then she opened her eyes, sure that she felt something at her palms.

But nothing happened.

With a frown, she closed her eyes again. Maybe she was moving too fast. Calm down. Breath. She felt something bubble up again and it made her insides feel warm. It moved towards her hand but when she opened her eyes, she saw nothing again.

It took her half an hour for something to finally happen. She realized what her problem was. She wasn't focusing on the spiritual connection with nature. She was just focusing on herself. Magic is the connection between the body, physically and spiritually. With that in mind, she closed her eyes one last time. Taking a deep breath, she felt something bubble up inside her. Then she pictured what she wanted to do with her Magic and imagined the tree. She could feel it. Then she opened her eyes. A black Magic circle had appeared where her palm was. It disappeared but her hands were surrounded by a black Magic energy, with the outlines of her hands being white. Then she focused on the tree. The whole thing turned black with white outlines. She raised her palm and the entire thing lifted up. She grinned.

It was time to head to Fairy Tail.

. . . . .

Raven stood in front of the doors. She was ready. Opening the doors, she walked inside. No one paid much attention to her as she walked in. Looking around, her eyes widened as she spotted a certain red head, glaring at a black haired boy. Then her eyes began to water.

"Erza!" she screamed and ran as fast as she could to the girl. Said girl looked over because she had heard a familiar voice.

"…Raven?" she said in disbelief.

"Erza!" Raven shouted again, with tears running down her face. Then she collided, head first into the girl. Raven wrapped her arms around Erza and wouldn't let go. After the red haired girl got over the shock of seeing Raven, she wrapped her arms around Raven and began to cry too. Soon, the two girls were a hugging mess on the ground, sobbing loudly.

"Is that really Erza?" someone whispered.

"She's… hugging someone?"

"And crying!?"

Erza had been there for merely three days and already, she was known as the strong, hard-headed girl. Everyone stared at them, some in confusion and some in curiosity. Who was the girl who made Erza cry? They said nothing as they watched the black haired girl grabbed Erza's hand and ran outside of the guild.

"Raven, where are we going?" Erza asked, still trying to take in the sight of her friend.

"We need to go somewhere private," Raven explained. She dragged the girl into the forest where they sat down and just stared at one another in silence.

"How…?" Erza asked, tearing up again. And so Raven explained everything that happened from when Jellal came back to the boats right up until Raven found Erza.

"What about you? What really happened? He told me he had killed you!" Raven asked. And so, Erza told her tale of how she had rescued Jellal but he had threatened her and wanted to stay. Then she explained how she woke up on a beach and made her way to Fairy Tail.

"We… we can't tell anyone…" Erza said. Raven looked up at Erza sadly.

"… I know," she answered. It was silent again.

"What are you going to do?" Erza asked after a while.

"Someone once told me; 'Life is all about taking chances, appreciating the memories, learning from the past, and finding happiness. You've had a rough beginning but don't let that stop you from finding your deserved ending.' So even though I'll never forget about the Tower of Heaven… I want to be happy. I want to find happiness in Fairy Tail," Raven said, guilty that she couldn't do anything to save them.

"Then… Let's get stronger! Happier and stronger so that we can save our friends when the time is right!" Erza announced. Raven looked up at her friend and then grinned.

"I can use Magic too!" she said. Erza smiled at her friend. It was her first genuine smile in a while.

"We can do this," Erza said.

. . . . .

The two girls sat in the forest for a long while in silence before they headed back to the guild. When they entered, everyone watched them curiously.

"Erza, fight me!" the same black haired boy from before shouted. Erza simply lifted her fist and conked him on the head.

"Erza-chan, that's not nice," Raven said.

"Erza… chan?" the red haired girl questioned.

"Yea, you're Erza-chan now," she simply replied. Erza raised an eyebrow, but didn't argue.

"Who are you?" the black haired boy asked, quite rudely too. Raven didn't hear his harsh tone and answered him eagerly.

"I'm Raven Harmonia!" Raven said. Then her face fell as she realized that it was Wally who had given her that last name. The black haired boy didn't see her long face and just grinned as he pointed to himself.

"I'm Gray Fullbuster, but you can call me the great Gray-sama!" he announced.

"Ok, Gray-sama," Raven said. He spluttered.

"Wait, no I was kidding," Gray said as everyone else started laughing. He blushed deeply and was about to say something else when he was interrupted.

"So, Raven Harmonia. Are you here to join the guild like Erza?" an old man said.

"Yes please!" she said happily.

"I am the master of the guild, Master Makarov. Can you use Magic?" he asked. Raven nodded her head.

"What Magic do you use?" Gray asked.

"She doesn't have to tell you," Erza interrupted before Raven could answer and Master Makarov interrupted Gray before he could respond.

"Where would you like your guild insignia?" he asked kindly. Raven turned to Erza.

"Where did you get yours?" she asked. Erza turned slightly so that the blue mark was present on her upper arm. Then Raven turned to Gray and was about to ask, but he wasn't wearing clothes. She squealed.

"Why are you naked, Gray-sama!?" she asked. The sentence made everyone burst out into laughter again as Gray blushed hard and stormed off to find his clothes. She turned back to the master.

"Hmm, I want it on my chest, above my heart because I want to love Fairy Tail just like Rob-ojichan. In black please," she asked.

"Rob…?" the master muttered before shaking his head. It couldn't be. "Alright, come here."

"Thank you!" Raven said as she walked over to Master Makarov. He pressed the stamp right above her left breast and then released it, showing a black insignia with suspiciously white outlines.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail, my child," Master Makarov said with a smile. Raven let out her own smile.

"Look Erza-chan!" Raven said and turned around, showing her the stamp. The shirt Maria gave Raven was baggy enough that simply pulling it down showed the top of her chest. Erza shook her head with a smile. She was already feeling immensely better with Raven around.

"Have you gone on any missions yet?" Raven asked curiously.

"Not yet. I've been settling down in Fairy Hills first," Erza replied.

"Can we do a mission? Please?" Raven nearly begged. Erza could only smile at her friend and nod. They went over to the board and picked a rather simple mission as their first together. They got it approved and already, they were off. The door closed to signify that they were gone before the guild got rowdy again.

"She seems like a nice girl. She'll be good for Erza. I wonder how they know each other," Master Makarov mused out loud.

. . . . .

Raven and Erza were already on their way for their mission. It was quite an easy one as they were little children. All they had to do was help a librarian who had gotten too old to do her job by organizing her books.

"Erza-chan… I miss Sho… and Wally… and Milliana… and Simon, and Kai, and Susan, and Kumiko… and Rob-ojichan…" Raven said, listing off all her close friends. Her eyes welled up with tears as they walked towards their destination. Erza herself began to tear up but she realized she needed to be strong for her younger friend. The red head stopped and gently placed her hands on Raven's shoulders.

"Rae, I know it's hard. But we _will_ see them again. We will get stronger to save them, ok? So please cheer up," Erza said with a soft smile. Raven wiped her tears away and sniffled once.

"Ok. I'm glad I have you," Raven said. And so they continued to make their way to the library.

"So, what Magic _do_ you use?" Erza asked curiously.

"I really don't know what it's called. The Magic circle I create is always black and I can lift things up but I haven't tried to do much with it. What about you?" Raven asked.

"So far, I'm not too sure either. I read at the guild library about something called sword Magic and a bit of telekinesis," Erza said.

"What's tele-kinesis?" Raven asked curiously.

"Like lifting things without touching them," Erza explained.

"Oh, then I might use telekinesis," Raven said cheerfully.

They finally made their way to the library. After two hours of work, the girls had organized the quite small library and smiled brightly. The library owner, Kaori-san, was very pleased with their work and so each girl got 2000 jewels.

"How much is a room at Fairy Hills?" Raven asked Erza as they rested on a couch in the library.

"Around 100,000 jewels," Erza said.

"100, 000! That's crazy!" Raven shouted.

"It is. Master is helping me pay for my room at the moment until I can pay him back by going on more expensive missions," Erza explained. Raven looked at her hands and bit her lip.

"Could… could I stay with you for now?" Raven asked quietly. Erza raised an eyebrow and then chuckled.

"Of course you can. I thought it was already a given," Erza said. Raven looked up and smiled before tackling Erza into a hug.

"Thank you! Oh! We should start training now! Let's look at some of the books on Magic from here," Raven said. Erza chuckled again and then nodded.


	6. Training

:)

Chapter Five

Raven was so caught up in her book, that she didn't notice Erza calling her the first few times.

"Raven!" Erza finally shouted, causing Kaori-san (the librarian), to shush her. Erza apologized sheepishly before glaring at Raven.

"Sorry, sorry. Oh man, what time is it?" Raven said as she looked outside the window.

"It's time to leave. Do you have any books you want to check out?" Erza asked.

"No thanks. Knowing me, I'd lose the books and would have to pay for them," Raven said with a grin. Erza just shook her head with a laugh.

"Alright, me neither. We can come back though," Erza said and Raven nodded. Then they left with their money.

. . . . .

"Oh right, I have these gummies. Try some! My favourite is the green one," Raven said with a smile as she pulled out a nearly empty bag of gummies. Erza shrugged and took a red one.

"These are sticky!" Erza complained.

"Well yea, they're gummies," Raven said, laughing at her friend. They walked a little more before Erza spoke up.

"So what Magic were you learning about?" Erza asked.

"Well the first topic I looked into was about telekinesis, for the both of us. And then the second Magic was on darkness and shadow control, because my Magic circles are always black! What about you?" Raven said with a smile.

"Telekinesis is good. You can tell me about it tonight then. I was looking into my sword Magic and I came across this really cool Magic called 'requip'. It's quite complicated actually. It goes into spatial Magic," Erza explained.

"Ooh, you can tell me about it tonight too. Why don't we go get some food?" Raven suggested.

"I don't know any places here," Erza said.

"How about we ask some guild members?" Raven asked with a grin. Erza looked away with a pout.

"Fine, but you're asking," Erza mumbled

"That's alright with me!" Raven said cheerfully.

. . . . .

"How did I get dragged along?" Gray asked as he sat next to a brown haired girl who was introduced as Cana.

"Gray, be nice," Cana scolded. Across from them sat an unhappy Erza and a sheepish Raven.

"I'm sorry Gray-sama. You can leave if you want," Raven said with a guilty grin. She hadn't meant to drag him at the restaurant they were seated at. Gray blushed.

"Stop calling me that! And it's fine… I'll stay," Gray said the last part quietly. Cana and Gray were the only two members that were similar in age to Raven and Erza. After they ordered their food, a silence settled in.

"Hey, how about I read your future," Cana said to Raven, breaking the silence.

"Wow! You can do that!?" Raven asked, amazed.

"You bet I can," Cana replied. Raven nodded and watched as Cana took out a set of cards.

"What do I have to do?" Raven asked.

"I've shuffled these cards. Now I just need you to pick out three cards," Cana explained. Raven stuck her arm across the table and plucked three cards out of the fanned cards Cana was holding.

"And now?" Raven asked.

"Now you give them to me," she said. Raven handed over the three cards. Cana picked them up and looked them over. She made a humming noise.

"What is it? Is it bad!? If it's bad, then I don't want to know," Raven blurted out. Cana laughed.

"No, no, I'm reading them. This one says that you'll make many friends in the future," she said as she held out a card with many people that were smiling widely.

"This one says you'll become a powerful wizard," Cana explained, now holding up a card that had a cartoonish character, flexing their arms.

"And this one says you will become very famous or popular. For what, I do not know," Cana said, holding the last card. It showed a picture of a group of people applauding and cheering.

"Huh…" Raven said, thinking about what the last one could mean. "Thank you very much for reading my fortune."

"Here's your food," the waiter said as he laid down the food. The four kids dug into their food.

"Cana, you seem to really like your drink. What did you order?" Gray asked.

"Well I did order apple juice but this tastes… funny. But I like it," Cana said. Then from the corner of the room, they heard a shout.

"Where's my beer!? This is apple juice!"

The rest of the night was spent laughing and talking while Erza sulked in the corner.

. . . . .

That night, Erza brought Raven to Fairy Hills.

"Wow, your place is so nice!" she said with a wide grin.

"Yes, it is," Erza said, still pouting about their dinner.

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry for inviting Cana and Gray. I just thought it would be nice to make new friends," Raven said with her own pout.

"You're right…it's just that… well I'm just very uneasy around people," Erza confessed.

"Hey, there's no need for that. You have me here with you," Raven offered. Erza looked up and smiled.

"I do, don't I," she said.

The two girls spent the evening showering, and Erza let Raven borrow some of her clothes. Raven washed her shirt she got from Maria and then put it up to dry. Then the girls went into Erza's room. The bed was large enough for the two small girls to sleep in together so Raven didn't have to sleep on the couch. Then the two spoke about what they learnt in the library.

"Well telekinesis is pretty amazing! But basically, it's a type of Magic that allows us to move and take control of things with our minds! And then we can use it for whatever we want. It's so cool because we can use it to move water or rocks or even people!" Raven said, amazed at Magic.

"I learnt about sword Magic. I think it would be beneficial for both of us to learn about it," Erza started and Raven nodded in agreement. "There's so much to sword Magic. The weapons we use act as mediums for us to perform attacks. Using Magic, we can go past the physical reach of the blade so it's a short-to-mid range Magic. What's even better is that some techniques use different elements such as fire and water. And with addition to telekinesis, multiple weapons can be used. And lastly, this Magic can even change the sword's properties such as its length."

"Wow… there's so much to learn about sword Magic. I guess I'll learn a little bit, but I'm more interested in the other Magic I found; darkness and shadow control. It's basically just the power to create and control the element of pure darkness and shadows. I'd also be able to bend it to my will and I can use it with telekinesis. That's all I managed to read about though," Raven said. Erza nodded.

"That seems like good Magic to learn. The last Magic I learnt about was requip. I think it would also be beneficial for us to learn it, even just a little bit. Basically, we store items in pocket dimensions and so we can easily summon it at any time. I plan on being able to use it during battle so I can switch my weapons whenever I want, and maybe even my armor. Sadly, there is a limit in how much the pocket dimension can store. Requip can be used for weapons or armor or even just clothes," Erza explained.

"There's so much to learn with just these four Magic types. And the world is filled with so many types. Magic really is amazing," Raven said.

"It really is," Erza said quietly. Raven could tell she was dozing off and she smiled. Then Raven began singing softly. It was the lullaby they had all loved. Raven's Lullaby.

Erza fell asleep with a smile and Raven followed shortly after.

. . . . .

"Ok! Time to buy things!" Raven said cheerfully, the next morning. Erza had arrived in Magnolia earlier and borrowed a tiny bit of money from Master Makarov to buy a few necessities whereas Raven had just arrived yesterday. All she had was a few thousand jewels, thanks to Maria, and the clothes Maria gave her.

"Yes, let us go," Erza said, rolling her eyes at how enthusiastic Raven was.

And so, the two girls went all around Magnolia, collecting items. Ravens arms were soon filled with bags of clothes, toiletries, and a pair of new shoes. Erza on the other hand had only a few sets of clothing; and they looked exactly alike, as well as a sword. It was a cheap and rusty thing, but it was all they could afford with their combined money (save for a few jewels they would need for money and emergencies). They agreed that Erza was the first one to get a sword because Raven would work on her telekinesis.

After the two girls had stopped at Erza's place to drop off all their things and dress in training clothes. Then they made their way to the forest. While exploring, they had stumbled across an open field.

"This is perfect for training," Erza said, one of her real genuine but rare smiles gracing her features.

"Well, let's get to it!" Raven said and they began.

. . . . .

A whole week had passed and the two girls had decided to form a team. They didn't really care to name themselves anything and no one really took notice of the two little girls. They went on two more simple missions which involved babysitting for a wealthy individual (with a short chance of a kidnapping happing (which didn't happen)) and then having to help take care of an elderly man's house (which needed to be painted).

The girls trained to increase their endurance, strength, and speed. Raven had read that meditation helped with increasing the 'Magic container' that they had inside of them, so they also meditated for an hour each day. Of course, it had only been a week so nothing major had happened.

Erza had practiced with sword Magic, slashing at trees until she was able to make a significantly deep cut. She had also worked on making sure that the already very broken sword didn't sustain too much damage when hitting sturdier things, such as the trees. That way, when she faced stronger opponents, her swords would be able to strike harder and not break.

Raven had practiced with her telekinesis Magic. She wanted to be able to lift objects without having to take deep breaths. She wanted to be faster and more efficient in it. The week training slowly began showing results and though the results were quite minuscule, it gave the girls hope. Raven also practiced in controlling the objects and where they moved, finding it harder to control larger objects. She found that when she used her Magic, the objects themselves would turn black with white outlines but that she was also able to see white outlines of things behind or inside the object. For example, as she was lifting a very small tree when she saw a squirrel outlined in white. She dropped the tree, only for the squirrel to hop out.

The girls had spent hours and hours every day for the whole week practicing. They were extremely determined and after that week, with the two additional missions, they were able to buy Raven a sword.

. . . . .

"This is so hard! How do you do it?" Raven muttered as she lifted the sword and prepared to slash at the tree again. Erza chuckled.

"Focus Rae. Let your Magic flow into the sword," Erza said. Raven closed her eyes and imagined her Magic was a river that was flowing throughout her body. Then the river flowed into the sword. She opened her eyes and then swiped at the tree.

"I did it! Look Er-chan! The cut is deeper!" Raven shouted.

"Er-chan?" Erza mumbled. Then she laughed. "You did it!"

. . . . .

The rest of the month was spent training and taking on more missions. Unfortunately, all the money they had gathered was spent on rent and given back to Master Makarov. They were still able to pay for food but they couldn't afford better weapons.

Raven also spent the month making friends with all the members of Fairy Tail while Erza still avoided most people. Yet, she was learning to open up a little bit. She spoke to Cana a fair bit and even fought Gray more.

. . . . .

"Hey Raven. I think it's time we took a harder job," Erza said with a smirk. Raven's eyes widened.

"A… a fighting job?" Raven asked. Erza nodded.

"The pay is higher and we'll get stronger," she reasoned.

"I think it's a great idea! About time Er-chan!" Raven said. She ran over to the mission board and picked up a paper that she had had her eye on for a while now.

"This one, huh," Erza said as she read the paper.

"Yup! Let's go save a village from beasts!" Raven said happily.


	7. First Mission, First Impressions

:D

Chapter Six

"Are you girls sure you want to go on this mission?" the master asked, hesitant to let a nine year old and an eleven year old on such a job.

"We can handle it!" Raven said confidently. They had been training intensely. They were ready. Erza had nailed down the basics of sword Magic and was already advancing on and while Raven barely had it, she was much better at using her telekinesis Magic.

"Alright, I wish you luck. If you're not back in a week, I'm sending some members after you," Master Makarov said. Raven and Erza nodded seriously before taking back the now accepted request and heading out.

"I'm so excited!" Raven cheered.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself," Erza berated. Raven pouted.

"Yes, Er-chan," she said.

. . . . .

The two girls had taken a train to a remote village nearby. The quest paper had stated that the village was being terrorized by dog like beasts and they had asked for some mages to come get rid of the beasts. The girls got off of the train and took a short half an hour walk to the village gates.

"Welcome to Fascia Village! Who are you two young ladies?" a voice called out. Erza and Raven looked up to see an eccentric man standing on the balcony of the house closest to the gates.

"We're the mages you asked for. We're here to take care of the beasts," Erza replied.

"You two? But you guys are children?" the man asked. Raven's eye twitched at that but luckily Erza spoke before Raven could say anything.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Me? Why I am the leader of this village," he said.

"You? But you are too young to be a leader," Raven mocked him. Erza smacked her on the head.

"Be nice," she muttered. The leader laughed.

"Touché young one. My name is Uzami Jin. Please take care of this village," he said. The two girls walked into the village and made their way to the house the leader was in. The knocked on the door and he opened it up.

"Could you give us any information on these beasts before we start?" Erza asked.

"Yes of course. Their lair is a cave just north from here. They are around the height of you guys and are all green in colour. That's about it," Jin said.

"Green?" Raven asked curiously.

"Yup! You can't miss them," Jin said. The two girls nodded and thanked him before heading north.

"Let's make this quick so we can head back!" Raven said and Erza nodded with a smile.

. . . . .

It had taken forty minutes to walk to the cave. The cave entrance was quite large, especially since the girls were very small. They cautiously walked in. It was too dark to see anything aside from what was directly around them. They kept walking for a good ten minutes when they heard a growl.

"Um… Erza-chan, should we keep going?" Raven asked nervously.

"Of course," Erza replied. They walked further in until it was too dark to see anything. That is until they saw several pairs of glowing red eyes.

"Run!" Raven shouted. The two girls booked it out of there as several creatures followed them.

"There's the cave entrance! We'll fight them there," Erza shouted to Raven.

"Alright," she replied with. They ran until they saw the forest outside. Then they both skidded to a stop and turned around. Raven's jaw dropped.

"Rae, focus," Erza said.

"But… but they're so cute!" Raven squealed. In front of them were nine very furry dog like creatures. They had large blue doe-like eyes and dark green fur so it didn't look too abnormal. They had stubs for tails that they were all wagging.

"Raven!" Erza scolded. Raven frowned.

"Fine, fine," she muttered. Then the two girls shot forward. Both taking out their swords, they began slashing at the closest mutts.

"Behind you!" Erza shouted to Raven.

"Got it," Raven said thankfully. She cut down on the first beast in front of her, knocking him unconscious. Then she twirled on her toes, heaving the sword with her and efficiently slicing at the mutt that was behind her. Then one of the green beasts shot forward at her. Raven stood still and lifted one arm. A black Magic circle appeared and Raven used her telekinesis to swing a forth dog into the one that was rushing at her, knocking them both out. She looked over to see that Erza had also taken down her forth beast.

"Where's the last one?" Erza asked, looking around. Raven spun around too, looking for it. Then she heard a crunch in the leaves. She jerked her head towards Erza, only to see the last one flying towards Erza's back.

"NO!" Raven screamed and lifted her palm to face the beast. The beast froze in midair, allowing Erza to turn around and swipe it down with her sword.

"Thanks," Erza said, out of breath.

"Be more careful!" Raven scolded the red haired girl. Erza sweat dropped.

"I never thought you'd be telling me that," she said with a chuckle. Raven sighed and then let out a laugh.

"Well, let's take them to the leader," Raven said. Erza nodded before raising an eyebrow.

"How?" she asked. Raven smirked.

"Leave it to me," she said. Then she closed her eyes and concentrated really hard. Lifting both her hands for this task, all the green mutts began to glow black with white outlines. She took a deep breath and then lifted her arms a little, which in turn lifted the dogs.

"Wow…" Erza breathed out, "That's impressive." Raven didn't reply as she was focusing hard so that she wouldn't drop the poor dogs.

"Let's go," Raven said.

. . . . .

"Oh dear," the leader said as he saw nine floating beasts, one panting and sweating raven haired girl, and one nonchalant red haired girl.

"Here are your beasts. They're unconscious at the moment, so feel free to do whatever you want with them," Erza said. Raven pouted but said nothing. It wasn't up to her.

"Right… Just… uh leave them there I guess. We can't really release them because they'll just come back and attack us. We'll make a pen for them then," the leader said.

"Do you need help making a place for them?" Raven asked.

"No, no. We have a fenced in place for our sheep but because there were so many of them, we had to move them. We can put these animals there," the leader said.

"Lead the way then," Erza said. Raven nodded as she struggled to pick up all the mutts again. They walked to the back of the village where there was quite a large open space. Raven was pleased with this and gently placed the dogs in there.

"Thank you for everything!" Jin said with a grin. He gave them one large pouch of money and the waved to them as they left the village. As the two sat in the train, they grinned at each other.

"We did it!" Raven shouted, causing other passengers to look at her. She grinned sheepishly while Erza just smiled.

"Yes we did," Erza said.

. . . . .

"We're back!" Raven shouted as she walked into the guild. Erza followed her quietly.

"Already?" a blue haired teenager asked. His name was Macao and Raven had made friends with him just the previous week.

"It was easy," she replied with.

"It's getting pretty late. Let's go home," Erza said. Raven turned to stare at Erza.

"You… you said home," Raven said with her eyes watering up. Erza blushed and looked away.

"Let's go," she said and grabbed Ravens hand while the black haired girl giggled.

. . . . .

That night, as Erza and Raven were heading to sleep, Raven decided to ask a question that she was extremely curious about.

"Erza-chan…" Raven started. Erza turned to look at the younger girl. "How long… where you in the Tower of Heaven for?"

"I arrived around three months earlier than you, so two years," Erza said somberly. Raven cuddled closer to Erza.

"Sorry for bringing it up," she said.

"It's ok, you were curious," Erza said. "And I don't want to forget anything about the place. It may be a horrendous place but… I know I wouldn't be here if not for it, with you."

Raven began to tear up. Then she began to cry. For her family, for her friends, for everything she had lost and gained. Erza couldn't help it and began to cry too. They cried themselves to sleep that night.

. . . . .

The two girls woke with sore eyes the next morning. Washing up, they sighed and headed over to the guild.

"What are we going to do today? Training?" Erza asked. Raven rubbed the back of her head and smiled sheepishly.

"Well actually… the guild is holding this contest and the prize was a lot of money, so I entered," she said. Erza just gave the girl a deadpanned look.

"Of course you did. Well I'll be watching in the crowd then," Erza said. Raven nodded cheerfully as they made their way to Fairy Tail. They sat down, just chatting when finally, the lights went dark.

"Can we have all the contestants come to the back please?" a female named Yuka called. She had blonde hair and deep purple eyes. She was normally the announcer of all the events.

"I'll see you then," Raven said as she winked at Erza.

"Good luck," the red haired girl said as she waved to her friend.

. . . . .

"Today, we have seven contestants! The rules for the contest are that you aren't allowed to use Magic and you need to impress the audience with your own talent! First up is our very own Tomi Kyoyama who will be performing a juggling act," Yuka announced. Then she stepped off the stage and a brown haired young man stepped up. He had a cheesy grin on his face and three different items in his hands; a chair, a ball, and a half full water bottle.

"Are you guys ready!" he shouted. Then he threw each item up and began juggling them. Raven sat in the back with her hands clasped together as she watched with sparkles in her eyes. When he was finished, he simply caught all the items and bowed before walking off the stage with the audience clapping in amusement. Then Yuka got on the stage again.

"Next, we have Haya Tanaka who will be doing a gymnastic act," Yuka said enthusiastically. She got off of the stage as a teenager got on the stage. She had blue hair and a blue suit to match.

Music started playing from a lacrima as she began twirling around. Suddenly, she did a back flip. Landing on her hands, she began flipping around and cartwheeling everywhere. Raven watched, once again in awe. It seemed like she was going to have a tough time winning. The music ended and Haya stopped, out of breath. She bowed with a wide smile on her face and Yuka got back on the stage.

"Wow that was something. Next is Suzu Misora who will be twirling ribbons," Yuka announced. Raven watched as Suzu got on the stage and started spinning around. As the contestants went up, she starting getting more nervous but also more excited about it.

"And last, but not least, we have Raven Harmonia!" Yuka announced. Everyone cheered as they realized the little girl they had all come to know and love was going up next. She walked onto the stage with a pitch black wooden instrument. She couldn't resist having a black one, it was her favourite colour.

"Hello everyone, this is a song that came to me and I just had to share it," Raven said.

"What's that?" someone young shouted from the crowd.

"It's a guitar. I made it myself though I don't really know how I knew how to make it. I was just messing around and the idea of a guitar came to mind," she replied. The audience got quiet as she began to strum on the strings.

 _Urunda hitomi no oku ni  
Kawaranu kimi no sugata  
"doko made sekai wa tsudzuku no"  
Todaeta hibi no kotoba_

 _Kogoeru arashi no yoru mo  
Mada minu kimi e tsudzuku  
Oshiete umi wataru kaze  
Inori wa toki wo koeru_

 _Kasunda chihei no mukou ni  
Nemureru hoshi no souwa  
"akenai yoru wa nai yo" to  
Ano hi no tsumi ga warau_

 _Furueru kimi wo dakiyose  
Todokanu kokuu wo aogu  
Kikoeru yami terasu kane  
Kimi eto michi wa tooku_

 _Kogoeru arashi no yoru mo  
Mada minu kimi e tsudzuku  
Oshiete umi wataru kaze  
Inori wa toki wo koeru_

 _Kogoeru arashi no yoru mo  
Mada minu kimi e tsudzuku  
Oshiete umi wataru kaze  
Inori wa toki wo koeru._

( **watch?v=7yLR3ohNyxU** – guitar) - ( **watch?v=diOXQ6Zvesk** – song)

Raven ended by repeating the last line of the song. It was silent for a while and Raven stood there awkwardly. Then the crowd stood up and started applauding wildly.

"And that was our final contestant!" Yuka announced, getting onto the stage. "Who will you vote for!?"

Raven bowed and walked to the back of the stage where she stood there, smiling.


	8. House Hunting

**_Sorry_**

 **Chapter Seven**

"The votes have been collected in!" Yuka shouted to the roaring crowd. The audience instantly quieted down, wanting to know who won. "In third place, we have… Tanaka Haya and her gymnastics act! As third place, she gets 5000 jewels!"

The crowd cheered loudly for the blue haired teenager. They even gave some whistles as Haya was an attractive girl. She smiled and waved and walked forward to get her jewels. Then she exited the stage.

"And now! Second place goes to… Suzuhito Kaoru for his amazing dance moves!" Yuka announced. The crowd cheered louder for their guild member. "As second place, Kaoru gets 50,000 jewels!"

Raven stood in the back with her fingers crossed. She shut her eyes and held her breath as Yuka moved on to the first place winner.

"Last but definitely not least, is… once more, Harmonia Raven!" Yuka said, holding the last syllable of Raven's name. The audience went wild as the little girl walked onto the stage. "As first place, the winner gets… 100,000 jewels!"

Raven accepted the money and bowed to everyone. There was a bright smile on her face and she was ecstatic.

"Thank you everyone!" she shouted. The crowd cheered and then a party started. Raven got off the stage and made her way to Erza, stopping every few seconds to thank someone who was congratulating her.

"Congratulations," Erza said with a smirk as Raven sat across from her.

"I can't believe I did it! And I got us our rent," Raven replied with a wink.

"Where did you even get that guitar?" Erza asked.

"I made it, remember," Raven said, referring to the time on the stage when she said she had.

"Oh right, when did you have time to do that? I'm always with you," Erza asked curiously.

"Remember that time I said I wanted to train further away from you so I didn't hurt you?" Raven asked with her own smirk. Erza laughed.

"I remember that. That's amazing," Erza praised and Raven blushed. Then someone approached them.

"Hello, Gray-sama and Cana-chan!" Raven said with a smile.

"Stop…oh what's the point," Gray muttered.

"Cana-chan?" Cana asked with a chuckle. Raven and Erza laughed at their responses.

"I felt the same way when she started calling me Erza-chan," Erza said. Gray sat next to Raven, because he preferred her over Erza, and Cana sat next to said girl. They laughed and had fun at the party.

. . . . .

Erza and Raven spent the next four months training hard.

"I found it!" Raven shouted from inside a store.

"Let me see?" Erza said as she walked over to where Raven was. She took the sword from Raven and gave it a few test swings to make sure that it was sufficient enough. Then she gave a thoughtful nod.

"Do you finally approve?" Raven asked dryly. They had been to several weaponry stores already but every time Raven picked out a sword for herself, Erza would give it a few test swings and then would put it back on the shelf.

"Yes, this one will do for you," Erza said. They had now officially purchased five swords each that were of good quality. Erza herself had gotten a few pieces of armour, though she stated she wanted to wait until she stopped growing to really start purchasing more armour.

Erza, through her training, had really taken a liking to sword Magic. The way she swung her sword was like no other. She had increased her strength and Magic container to the point where she was beginning to resemble a monster in a fight. She was even capable of using two swords to fight and had even purchased a fire sword where she could attack with a little fire. Erza had also become quite efficient in requip Magic, being able to switch out her weapons like there was no tomorrow. Her telekinesis Magic was mainly used to lift her weapons and she was excellent in hand-to-hand combat.

Raven had already become quite proficient at using her telekinesis Magic and was working on her darkness and shadow control Magic. She had also found a book on astral projection Magic where she can send her soul out of her body. The soul can be manipulated to look like anything she wanted and she often chose to make it look like her or, based on her name, a large raven. The soul she projected was black in colour and was able to interact with the physical world. The soul was able to head into the minds of people and what she could do with this ranges from communicating with them to forcing them into submission. Not only that, but the soul could move away from the body with a decent limit on the range and Raven could see through the astral projections eyes. The soul could pick things up and fight enemies if needed. It used a lot of Magic, so Raven tended to use it for a short period of time or for emergencies.

Raven had also learnt a little bit of sword Magic, also having five of her own swords, though none of them had any elemental powers. She wasn't close to Erza's skill but she knew enough that if she ever needed to protect herself with her swords, she could. Apart from that, she knew a tiny bit of requip Magic too. Not enough so that she could use it in battle, but enough where she could store her clothes and swords there instead of at home. After she woke up or showered, she was easily able to requip into her clothes.

"Alright, time to go home," Erza said. They paid for the sword at the front and then Raven stored her sword away. They talked and walked home together.

"I can't believe it's been around five months since we managed to leave the Tower of Heaven. I wonder how everyone is…" Raven said. Erza looked into the sky.

"I'd like to believe they're doing fine," she replied.

"Maybe they really are," Raven agreed.

. . . . .

"Um, Erza-chan… I was thinking of moving into a house… And I was wondering if you'd like to come with me," Raven said quietly.

"You realize that we are little children, right?" Erza asked.

"Well we live on our own anyway and well… Rob-ojichan told me that his dream was to own a garden filled with flowers and I know he wasn't being serious but… I want to own a garden in his honour," Raven said.

"…I _have_ always wanted a larger kitchen so I can learn to cook…" Erza said with a grin. Raven's face brightened up.

"Really!? It doesn't have to be a huge house. Just one that has a garden. And I guess a large kitchen and also I need a music room!" Raven said, getting increasingly more excited.

"I think it's a great idea. As we get older, we'll need two bedrooms anyway," Erza agreed.

"It'll cost more, but with our training, we can go on harder missions," Raven said. Erza nodded.

"Well, we aren't doing anything right now. Why don't we go looking for a house?" she asked. Raven started jumping up and down.

"Yes please!" Raven nearly shouted.

. . . . .

The two girls spent several hours, until it was dark out, looking for the perfect house. There were many things the house needed. Three bedrooms (one would act as a spare), a large kitchen, a nice backyard to start a garden, and it had to be close to Fairy Tail.

Finally, they had settled for the 'perfect one'. It was a fifteen minute walk from Fairy Tail yet it was also close to a majority of good quality shops. The top floor had a bathroom and three bedrooms. The bottom floor had a nice sized kitchen which Erza said was more than enough for her and three other rooms. Erza and Raven were going to make those rooms the dining room, the living room, and Raven's music room. Lastly, the house had a medium sized backyard, big enough to relax in but not large enough to run around in.

"We won't be able to afford everything at once. Should we get a loan from Master and then pay him back later or should we just buy everything in small sets at a time?" Raven asked.

"We have enough to pay for a month's cost, which is around 200,000 jewels. So then once we buy the house, we can go out for a month and just straight up do several jobs so we don't ever have to stress about getting more money," Erza suggested. It made sense to Raven so she agreed.

"Let's grab all the missions before anyone else can," Raven said with a cheeky grin. Erza laughed and they went to go pay their bills ahead of time. Then they headed over to Fairy Tail to accept several missions.

"You guys are going away for a month to complete these missions!?" Master Makarov asked in disbelief. These were children in front of him.

"Yes we are," Erza said.

"We are Fairy Tail wizards," Raven said with a wink.

"You know, you guys never told us what Magic you used and you've never been on a mission with anyone else," Gray said, popping up from somewhere.

"Huh, I never thought about that," Raven said.

"I'll guess you'll never know," Erza smirked. Raven laughed and the two girls left with the guild watching a frustrated Gray, amused.

. . . . .

"How many missions did we grab anyway? You think we can do them in a month?" Raven asked.

"We took around six of the harder missions, which should take around three days each and six easy ones, which should take two days or less. So we should we back before a month is up," Erza said.

"If we complete them all, how much would we get in total?" Raven asked curiously. She really wanted to start her garden.

"Well, around 1,400,000 jewels," Erza said, doing the math in her head. Raven's eyes widened.

"We'll be rich!" she cheered. Erza chuckled.

"Well if our monthly bills are around 200,000 jewels, we'll only have enough for 13 months. And we still have to buy other things such as our furniture and equipment," Erza said reasonably. Raven pouted.

"But still, it's a lot," she muttered.

"Yes, it is," Erza said with a smile.

"Well, we better get to work," Raven said.

. . . . .

"Remind me why we took this one!?" Raven shouted to Erza. They were currently running away from a _very_ large and very much _alive_ cactus. It was screeching and shooting thorns at them.

"This one gave us a lot of money!" Erza shouted back. Then they nodded to each other and stopped, pivoting around and shooting towards the cactus monster. They took out their swords and attacked, successfully mutilating the monster.

"That… wasn't too… bad," Raven panted out.

"That was only our second mission. Ten more to go," Erza said, her breathing already back to normal. Raven just glared at Erza for being so fit.

. . . . .

"Oh dear lord, which mission is this!?" Raven shouted to Erza. Once again, they were being chased by a creature. This time, it was a giant bird with three heads.

"Mission number five!" Erza called back. Raven sighed. Then she skidded to a stop and lifted both her hands. She hated doing this because it took a lot of Magic to work on living creatures, but using her telekinesis Magic, she halted the bird midflight. Then she dropped her hands hard causing the bird to drop to the ground.

"Got it down, your turn," Raven said, sticking out her tongue. Erza rolled her eyes at the childish behaviour but charged at the bird with her sword. Once that was done, Erza cleaned her sword and walked back to Raven.

"Have you ever tried to use telekinesis on yourself?" she asked.

"Huh… I haven't…" Raven answered, lost in her thoughts of how cool that would be.

. . . . .

"This is amazing! I can fly!" Raven shouted as she no longer had to run from yet _another_ creature. Erza scowled.

"You want to help out down here?" Erza shouted back.

"Right, right," Raven shouted. She was levitating! Then she flew down and took out her own sword, slashing at the weird beaver/horse hybrid that was chasing them. She attacked but only managed to halt the horse thing from moving.

"This is how a real swordsman does it," Erza said with a smirk. She swooped in and with a bright glow of Magic and a yellow Magic circle, she took down the monster.

"Show off," Raven mumbled.

"Says the one who was flying everywhere," Erza retorted.

"You can use telekinesis too! I'm sure you could do it if you tried," Raven said.

"Actually I have tried and I couldn't. Seems you were just more talented," Erza replied. Raven raised an eyebrow at that and then she smiled.

"Awesome."

. . . . .

"Thank you! An easy mission, finally!" Raven said as she painted the inside of a house.

"It's also practice for when we paint our house," Erza pointed out.

"Ooh, what colour are you going to paint your room?" Raven asked.

"I don't know yet. What about you?" Erza asked.

"Probably… well I want it to be black but that might look a little weird so a soft green? Or purple? Or blue…? I don't know!" Raven finally stated. Erza just laughed at the girl.

"Well a month is almost up and most of our missions are done. Better think of a colour soon," she said.

"I know. Why is this so hard?" Raven muttered.

"You'll think of something, don't worry," Erza said with a laugh.


	9. Renovating the House

_**I'm**_

 **Chapter Eight**

"Finally! What's our last mission?" Raven asked. Erza looked over the paper.

"It says we need to simply collect a specific crystal from a mountain," she replied.

"Seems easy enough," Raven replied as they made their way to the town the request was sent from.

"Well we're here," Erza said, stopping in front of the town.

"Where do we go next?" Raven asked. Erza looked at the request sheet and then the map that was placed by the entrance of the town.

"It's a short walk from here. Let's go now instead of waiting the night," Erza suggested and Raven nodded.

. . . . .

Erza knocked on the door of the given address and the girls waited patiently. Then a young man opened the door. He had blond hair and green eyes.

"Hello, sir. My name is Raven and this is Erza. We're the mages you asked for," Raven introduced.

"Hello! My name is Chris and I'm the one who sent the job out," the man said. Luckily, he said nothing about their age like many… _many_ … other clients had pointed out.

"Ah, that's good. Can you tell us what this crystal looks like?" Erza asked.

"I'm a hundred percent sure you can't miss it. It is surrounded by many other crystals but this one is rainbow in colour. It's quite large too. The best part of it is… its shape resembles a heart. They call it the Gem's Heart but because it so hard to get from the mountain and also bring down, many people have just left it there. In this town, no one really gets any use from it," Chris explained.

"So why do you want it then?" Raven asked curiously.

"I'm a gem and crystal collector. I also craft certain gems into jewelry but I want to place this one somewhere in my house," Chris said. Raven just nodded in understanding.

"Then, we'll be off," Erza said. They waved the man goodbye and set off.

"I think it would be best to wait until tomorrow morning," Raven suggested.

"Yes, I was thinking the same thing. Let's go find an inn to stay at," Erza said.

. . . . .

The next morning, the two girls made their way to the base of the mountain. They looked up and realized they couldn't even see the top of it.

"Well damn," Raven muttered out.

"Let's get going then," Erza said. Raven decided to walk until she was tired and then she would levitate. She still hadn't mastered it yet and so it took a lot of Magic to work.

. . . . .

Two hours. It had taken _two_ hours to get to the top of the mountain. Raven had given up after an hour of walking and decided to levitate next to Erza. Surprisingly, it didn't take that much Magic energy and she was able to make it the whole way.

"We… are _finally_ up here. The gem better be up here," Raven muttered.

"Only one way to find out. Let's go look," Erza said. They hiked their way up to the top where they were surprised to find a cave entrance. They cautiously entered it and looked around. That's when everything started glittering.

"Woah… it's so pretty," Raven said. All around them were walls covered in crystals. The roof was covered in a reflective surface, making it look like a mirror and Raven could see herself in it. They walked further in and the hall way soon opened up to a very large room with even more crystals and gems.

"There it is," Erza said, pointing to one corner of the room. Raven turned to look at her jaw dropped. It was even prettier than what Chris had described. It wasn't _just_ a rainbow colour but it dazzled in a million colours. The heart shape had smooth sides, giving it an almost man-made look. It was around the size of Raven's head.

"Can I take a few home?" Raven asked Erza. She had puppy dog eyes and a pout. Erza had never seen Raven make this face but as soon as she saw it, she couldn't resist.

"For what?" she asked.

"To put on one of my walls!" Raven cheered.

"How are you going to carry them?" Erza asked. Raven smiled sheepishly and pulled out a huge bag. Erza spluttered.

" _Where_ did you get that from?" she asked.

"My pocket," Raven answered. Erza just sighed and shook her head.

"Alright, take as many as you'd like," Erza said.

. . . . .

Another half an hour later and Raven had filled the bag to the brim. It was much larger than herself! Then they left the cave, with Erza carrying the heart.

"It'll be dangerous getting down, especially since the gem can easily break," Erza said.

"Hmm, well I need practice with it… I'm going to use my astral projection to fly us to the bottom," Raven said. Erza was a bit hesitant but then nodded.

"Alright, let's do it," she said. Raven took a deep breath and concentrated hard. Then a large black Magic circle appeared under her, on the ground. She opened her eyes, which began to glow pure white. Suddenly, a large black raven shot up from within her and made a cawing noise. The bird flew down and enveloped Erza and Raven into itself, leaving nothing behind. Then it flew down the mountain. It took a mere three minutes to get to the bottom. The raven let the girls go, before heading back within Raven.

"That always takes a lot out of me," Raven said, with her hands on her knees. She was panting hard.

"Are you ok?" Erza asked concerned.

"Yea, I just need to catch my breath and no more Magic for now," Raven said with a thumbs up.

"Alright, we can wait a bit and then head over to Chris's house."

. . . . .

The girls stood in front of the house and knocked. They waited a moment before Chris opened the door.

"Girls, come in!" he said excitedly. They entered his house and were amazed. The house, similar to the cave, had crystals everywhere but in a more organized fashion.

"You really collect a lot of crystals and gems," Raven said. Chris laughed.

"Aren't they beautiful?" he asked and the girls nodded. Then Erza handed Chris the Gem's Heart. He took it gently and just stared with wide eyes and a bright smile. "Thank you so much! It's so pretty!"

"You should've seen the cave we were in," Raven says.

"Yes, it was quite a sight," Erza agreed.

"Oh yes, I've been there before but this gem was just too heavy for me to carry," Chris admitted. The girls nodded in understanding.

"Well we should get going," Raven said, wanting to see Fairy Tail again.

"Indeed, here's the money I owe you. And I actually made these last night when I saw you too. I thought it would be perfect!" Chris said as he handed them a bag of jewels as well as a box for each of the girls. Erza's box was red and Raven's was black. Then they opened the boxes. Both girls pulled out a silver chained necklace. On Raven's necklace, there was a long crystal gem in red, the same colour as Erza's hair. On Erza's necklace, there was the same crystal gem but in black, like Raven's hair.

"Oh wow…it's beautiful," Raven said. "Thank you so much."

"You guys looked like close friends so I thought it would be nice if you had something to remember each other by on you," Chris explained. Erza said nothing as she stared at the gift.

"Er-chan? Are you ok?" Raven asked. Erza looked up with a tear in her one eye. The other one was artificial after the master had taken her to a skilled healer named Porlyusica.

"It's lovely," Erza said happily. She immediately put it on and then lifted it with her hand to look at. Chris and Raven smiled at the girl.

"Let's go home now," Raven said.

. . . . .

"We're back!" Raven shouted as she opened the guild doors.

"Welcome back!" everyone shouted back, having gotten used to the two girls presence by now. It _has_ been half a year since they arrived.

"Ah, Raven and Erza," the master said. "How have you two been?"

"Good! We finished all the jobs," Raven said cheerfully.

"Without any issues too," Erza said with a smile. Master Makarov smiled at the girls but on the inside, he was in disbelief. Some of those missions would've been hard for the older members of the guild but these two girls did it? That was something spectacular. He took note of it. Of course, being the master, he knew what Magic the girls used and was quite impressed.

"Let's go buy some paint now!" Raven cheered and grabbed Erza's hand, dragging her out. The other guild members laughed at their rowdiness.

. . . . .

"What colour did you pick?" Erza asked. They were both holding four cans of paint, much to the surprise of the store owner. Those cans were heavy.

"Ok for the music room, I wanted a pearly blue colour. For the living room, I got a lavender colour. For my own room, one wall will be painted black and then I'll stick the crystals on them and the other three walls will be a cream colour," Raven said cheerfully. "Then we can use the rest of whatever paint we have to make the spare bedroom something nice. What about you?"

"I wanted the kitchen to be a cheerful colour, so I got a sunshine yellow. For the dining room, I thought a dark red would be nice. The washrooms upstairs and downstairs can be a nice pale green and lastly, my room will be painted a nice medium coloured blue," Erza said.

"We're going to have a rainbow of a house," Raven said with a laugh. Erza chuckled along as they made their way back home. When they arrived, they immediately got to work.

"Well we better get to work. This'll take a while," Erza said. They decided they would paint individual rooms, though it wasn't as if it would take any more or less time the other way.

They worked from one in the afternoon to late that night, only stopping for ten minute breaks. They were determined to finish by the night.

"Erza, I've finished the four rooms upstairs," Raven called, wiping her hands. She had cleaned all the tape and plastic from the floor and was throwing it all away. She sealed the half empty cans of paint and placed them at the bottom of the stairs.

"That's good. I'm just about finished everything. I still have to clean up," Erza said. Raven entered the room she was in.

"Alright, let me help you," Raven said. Together, they threw away all the garbage and sealed all the cans of paint.

"Where are we going to put the paint?" Erza asked.

"We can put a little shed out in the back by the garden and store the paint there," Raven suggested. Erza nodded in agreement.

"Well, let's go head back to our room at Fairy Hills. Our rent ends by the end of this week so we need to have everything moved out by then," she said.

"Sounds like a plan. We don't have much anyway," Raven pointed out.

"That's true."

. . . . .

The next morning, the girls went out to look for furniture. Thanks to all the missions they did, they had enough money to buy close to whatever they needed, though they would end up broke by the end.

"Let's start with our bedrooms," Raven said. Then the two girls split up to find exactly what they wanted. Raven went around, looking at everything. She didn't know what she wanted and there were so many options. Half an hour later and she had spotted the perfect bed. It was a double bed, so not too big but definitely not too small for the nine year old. It had a black headboard which was covered in black cushions. The frame of the entire bed was also black. The mattress itself was white and had a cream coloured silk sheet on top of it. The pillows had the same cream colour with black lace on the edges.

"I see you found one," Erza said, popping out of nowhere and scaring Raven.

"Jeez Erza. But yea, I did. And I looked at the price. Because it has been here for so long, they lowered the price last week and it turns out no one found it up until now," Raven said. Erza nodded in approval.

"I have found one too for myself and for the guest room," Erza said, leading her to another bed. This one was a double bed, had a white frame, and no headboard. Its sheets and matching pillowcases were white, gray, black, and pink striped. Then Erza showed her the guest one. Seeing as the guest room was painted a cream white with one wall accented in pale green, the bed too had a white frame and a jade green sheet. The pillows were the same green.

"Huh, I never thought you'd like this kind of style but I like the spare bed you found," Raven said but shrugged. Whatever Erza wanted. The price was really easy on the eyes too, for both beds.

"Let's go buy it then," Erza said. They went to the front of the store and purchased the beds. It turns out the black bed got two matching cream coloured nightstands while the one Erza bought got one white coloured nightstand. The green one also got a cream colored night stand.

"Do you need help carrying all that to your place?" the store owner said, looking to scam some money off the little children. Whereas it should've been free, the store owner was trying to get them to pay for the service.

"No thank you, we got it," Raven said. Then she lifted her hands. The usual black Magic circle appeared and her hands were engulfed in the normal black blob that turned her hand outlines white. The three beds and four nightstands began to float. Then Raven and Erza walked out of the store, leaving a very shocked store owner in place.

. . . . .

"We got most of the necessities out of the way," Raven said.

"I agree. We can get the mirrors and other side things later on. Let's work on the main items of the house," Erza said.

"Well, I guess we can work on the kitchen now," Raven said. Erza nodded and they walked to the next store.


	10. Memories

_**Sad**_

 **Chapter Nine**

"Ugh, finally done," Raven shouted. There was just so much to do! Who knew moving into a house was so much work.

"Let's just rest today and eat dinner. Then we can sleep in our new beds," Erza said, slightly too enthusiastic about the new beds. Raven laughed.

Raven's bedroom had finished drying by the time they had come back and so she was able to adhere the crystals she had found onto the black wall. The crystals came in several different colors, and on the black wall, they looked amazing. When the sun was bright out and shined onto the crystals, the room shone in rainbow colours which were easy to see on the cream coloured walls. She was happy with how it looked.

They had gotten all the toiletries they'll need for a while and had fully finished up the bathrooms because they came with the major items such as the sinks and mirrors. Then they moved onto the kitchen where instead of buying classy items, they bought colourful items. The plates were all multicoloured and the cups all had designs on them. They even bought a few pots and pans and several other things as well as special silverware for special occasions. The kitchen also had a small table that sat six people.

Then, they bought a large wooden, varnished, and rectangular table for the dining room which came with ten wooden chairs that held red velvet cushions to match the red colour of the room. The dining room was meant for the special occasions. The living room, coloured in lavender, held two beige sofas. One sofa was meant for three people while the other was meant for two. In the corners were two single sofa chairs meant for reading in. There was a low coffee table in the middle of the room.

"Our house is starting to look so nice!" Raven cheered. Erza smiled at her friend.

"Next, we have to buy accessories," she said. Raven nodded in agreement.

"But tomorrow. I'm too tired to do it now," Raven said.

The next day, the girls went to Fairy Hills. They thanked the land lady who had allowed them to stay there before taking all their stuff and moving it to their house. The clothes Raven didn't have in her requip system went into her closet. She still wore the shirt that Maria gave her as a dress a lot but she had other clothes.

Then the girls went out to the stores in Magnolia, hopefully for a final shopping round to as them a while.

"Oh, we also need a shed for the back," Raven reminded Erza. Said girl nodded and they made their way out.

. . . . .

"There, the final touch," Raven said as she placed a very fluffy black rug on the ground, covering a lot of the white hardwood floor. She had gotten a desk for her room as well as a mirror, a chair, a beanbag, some curtains, and a clock for her room. Everything looked perfect and classy, being all white and black with hints of other colours. She left her room, pleased, and went to Erza's room. When she arrived, she saw Erza standing with her hands on her hips, staring at her room proudly. "Damn…"

"Oh, Raven, how do you like my room?" Erza said with a proud smile. Raven sweat dropped. The walls were blue, her bed was pink, her rug was green, and her clock was orange.

"It's great…" Raven said hesitantly. "A bit colourful…" Raven hoped she grew out of this phase. She wondered if Erza wanted Raven to grow out of her black stage too.

"Thank you!" Erza said, taking that as a compliment.

"Well, uh, I guess it's time to head to the guild. We need to take some more jobs because we used all our jewels for this house," Raven said. They had paid for another month of bills just yesterday and officially had no money left.

"You're right. Let's go!" Erza said.

The two girls made their way to the guild, walking slowly and enjoying each other's company as well as the beautiful day. They entered the guild with smiles on their faces.

"Why don't we say hello to Cana and Gray first," Raven said and made her way to the two other children.

"Yo, we haven't seen you in a while," Gray said, spotting the two girls. Erza put her hands on her hips proudly.

"We bought a house," she said. Gray and Cana's eyes widened.

"You bought a house!? You guys are our age!" Cana shouted, amazed.

"Wait, you two bought a house?" Wakaba asked, over hearing Cana's shout.

"Yea, it's nothing too fancy," Raven said, rubbing the back of her head. Macao whistled.

"When we were your age, we were messing around all day," he said. Raven and Erza were so caught up in talking to everyone, they didn't notice a boy approach Gray.

"Who the hell are you? I don't like your look," Gray said. Everyone turned to see who the boy was talking to.

"Oh a fight?" Macao asked.

"Gray, your clothes," Cana said with an exasperated sigh. Gray made a surprised noise and got up to look for his clothes.

"Oh, you're just a pervert," the boy Gray was talking to, said.

"Who're you talking to, squinty eyes," Gray challenged.

"You of course, droopy eyes," the boy retorted. The two boys began to fight.

"How spirited," Master Makarov praised. Raven laughed.

"Quit it!" Erza shouted, knocking the two boys on their heads. Raven began laughing even harder.

"You want to fight!?" the boy shouted at Erza. Gray froze.

"Idiot," he said between his teeth.

"You fools," Erza said after she had flung them both onto the walls, cracking them. Raven couldn't help it as water streamed from her eyes and she held her stomach.

"Why me too?" Gray croaked in pain.

"Don't fight, got it?" Erza asked.

"Right!" Gray said, agreeing to whatever Erza said.

"What's your name?" Raven asked the boy, interrupting Gray.

"Natsu," the pink haired boy muttered out.

"Natsu, huh. Listen, everyone who comes to Fairy Tail are comrades. And this is all our house. A house isn't a place to fight. You understand?" Erza said, causing everyone to silence up and smile at the girl who was once alone and quiet.

"…" Natsu sat there and listened.

"I'm Erza, it's nice to meet you," she said.

"I'm Raven!" Raven added on.

"Erza's scary…" Natsu mumbled.

"Right…" Gray agreed.

"Raven's nice…" Natsu said.

"Right…" Gray agreed once more. The two boys looked at each other with a grin before realizing they were basically enemies and turned their heads away from each other.

"Erza, let's go on a job now. I'm hungry!" Raven said with a smile. Erza smiled back at her friend as they walked towards the job board. They picked one of the harder ones with a higher pay, got it approved, and then they were off.

. . . . .

The days passed by and Natsu fit right in with everyone, starting fights with Gray every second he could. Raven sat by laughing as Erza soon ended the fights, normally by hitting the boys on the head. They learnt to avoid fighting around Erza. The guild began growing larger and larger, with more people entering. With more people entering, the guild soon starting becoming more popular and famous.

"M-my name is McGarden Levy," a blue haired little child introduced.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail! My name is Harmonia Raven!" Raven introduced and then showed her around the guild. Erza stood and watched everyone with a smile on her face. She took it upon herself to make sure everyone was happy and Raven was more than willing to help her with that task.

Raven had started her garden by organizing everything. It was a rectangular shaped garden. She made sure the soil was fertilized and the weather was just right before planting all sorts of flowers. There were blue ones, and red ones, and yellow ones, and tall ones, and short ones. All sorts of flowers!

Erza herself had starting cooking and baking. The one thing she had really wanted to learn how to make was her strawberry cake. The kitchen always smelt like something new and Raven often enjoyed it. It made the place feel warm and cozy.

. . . . .

"Nee-chan!" Levy shouted as Raven entered the guild. She froze at the name before slowly smiling a sad smile. The blue haired girl didn't notice it was fake and began to talk to Raven, who occasionally nodded but she was clearly not engaged in the conversation. From the distance, one person noticed this whole exchange and watched curiously.

"Levy-chan, it was nice talking to you but I just remembered I had some errands to do. I'll see you later," Raven said. Then she walked over to Erza who was on the other side of the guild.

"Rae, what's wrong?" Erza asked. She had known her friend for a long time and could see something was bothering her.

"I'm going to the Lake," Raven said quietly. Erza's face morphed into one of sympathy and just nodded.

The Lake was a place that the girls had found deep in the forest. People rarely went there and the girls liked how quiet it was. They were almost _always_ together but even the young girls knew that they couldn't always be together. Sometimes, one or the other would want to be alone to spend some time thinking or just relaxing. And so, they normally went to the Lake. This usually happened when they were thinking of their past.

Raven made her way out of the guild quickly so that she didn't have to stop to talk to anyone and made her way through the forest. It took a good twenty minutes to walk there once Raven had entered the forest. When she got to the beautiful lake, she sat by the shore and leaned against a stone that the girls had moved there to sit on. She watched the calm water and saw her reflection. She could see the tears that were forming in her eyes and falling down her face.

 _"_ _Nee-chan!" Sho called. Raven turned to see the boy run at her. She caught him in a hug and they laughed as they fell down onto the floor together._

'I'm sorry everyone… I wasn't there to save you. Erza and I are getting stronger though. We'll come get you! Sho… Wally… Milliana… Simon… Susan… we'll get you,' Raven thought in her head. The tears kept falling but she didn't make much of a sound.

"What are you doing here?" a voice asked from behind her. Raven jumped in surprise and then turned around to see Gray standing there, clothes off again. He saw the tears in her eyes and then he blushed. It seemed as though he got flustered around crying girls. Raven quickly wiped her eyes and gave a small smile.

"Nothing much, just thinking," Raven said quietly. Gray robotically walked forward.

"You're always smiling at the guild and making everyone else feel like their home. So you don't have to think alone," he said and then plopped himself down next to Raven. The black haired girl looked at Gray with her head tilted in confusion before just shrugging. She looked back at the Lake and spotted her reflection. But this time, she wasn't alone. Gray was sitting there too, just looking around the area. She smiled.

'I'm home now,' she thought. Gray turned to look at the girl who was previously crying, but was now smiling.

"Thank you, Gray," Raven said quietly. Gray took a moment to process what just happened before his whole face turned a dark shade of red.

"W-whatever," he stammered out and jerked his head to look away from her. Raven laughed airily and the two sat there for a little while longer.

"Let's go back, ne?" Raven asked.

"Let's go back," Gray agreed.


	11. Black Haired Duo

_Raven or Juvia? Who knows._

 **Chapter Ten**

Three more months had passed by. The three months were spent building up their lives.

Erza turned 12 and Raven threw a small party for her. Raven had bought Erza a special strawberry birthday cake and had bought Erza a new sword. Gray, Cana, Natsu, and Levy came over and they had fun together. Erza had also purchased more armour and weapons. She had managed to increase her requip storage space and was starting to become extremely strong. She could cut down several trees with one swipe. Last of, she was able to switch into different armours in rapid succession, with her being able to switch her weapon even faster.

Raven turned 10 and Erza threw a larger party for Raven at Fairy Tail. Raven's personality was different from Erza's and whereas Erza enjoyed her small party, Raven wanted to spend her birthday with everyone. Erza and Raven both know each other better than anyone else. Training wise, Raven saw that she was getting rusty with her sword Magic and spent the time increasing her skill. She was also know able to levitate immediately and control where she went with extreme precision; this meant she could weave through the forest at a fast speed without hitting anything too. This also helped her practice with her telekinesis, now being able to lift much heavier and larger objects. Raven spent a lot of her training time meditating too, to increase her Magic container. With this, her astral projection Magic was able to last longer. She could shift her soul into anything including but not limited to; her raven, herself, a shield/barrier, a claw, and a weapon. This, in conjunction with her darkness and shadow control Magic made the mold of her soul become stronger. Though, Raven still had a lot of work to do with her shadow control Magic.

Both girls also spent the time sparring each other which was meant to help their hand to hand combat. They did strength training and became incredibly strong as well as they became faster and their endurance increased. Erza was slightly stronger than Raven and had greater endurance whereas Raven was much faster.

Aside from training, Raven's garden was growing marvellously. In fact, she often clipped some of the extra flowers and handed them out at the guild. There were vases filled with flowers inside the house, _everywhere_. Both Erza and Raven thought they were beautiful and enjoyed the flowery scent. Erza's cooking soon became a huge hit at the guild and she began bringing food in for people to try. Yet at the same time, she ended up frightening away most of the people who were interested in her food which caused Raven to sweat drop and laugh each time.

Last of all, Raven had ended up partaking in a singing competition that had contestants coming from all through Magnolia. Unfortunately, she wasn't allowed any instruments. She came in second which Raven wasn't too unhappy with, but she promised herself she'd practice more. The second place prize was a handmade cloak that was made after the winner was announced as well as a few thousand jewels. Raven ended up loving the cloak and wearing it _everywhere_ she went.

. . . . .

"Erza-chan!" Raven shouted, running into Erza's room. "What do you think of my new outfit!?"

"What happened to the top Maria gave you?" Erza asked, observing Raven's outfit.

"Well we're going to be going on harder jobs and I don't want her pretty top to be ruined so it's in my requip storage for a special occasion, or something of the sort," Raven explained. She twirled around to give Erza a look of her outfit. She was wearing a pair of black jean shorts with a white belt holding it up. Then she was wearing a black top that showed her stomach. It had a white mandala design on it. Erza could see the red crystal necklace Raven was wearing; she almost never took it off and similarly, Erza never took her black crystal necklace off either. Then Raven was wearing a pair of black combat boots. Her black hair was straight like usual and went down to the middle of her back. Once Erza had gotten a good look of her outfit, Raven put on the midnight coloured cloak she won, hood up. All this just made her sky blue eyes pop out (also known as bleu celeste).

"It's a bit… black…" Erza managed to say. Raven laughed.

"I know, I know. But I just love the colour black. And it makes me look cool," Raven said with a sheepish grin. Erza laughed with Raven.

"I think it looks great and it _does_ make you look pretty cool," Erza said. Raven smiled and thanked Erza before running back to her room. She wanted to organize her closet and her requip storage.

She had several swords, all similar to each other. They were just backup in case one broke. None of them had elemental powers or anything special. Then Raven had all her clothes, mostly for adventuring but there were a few pyjamas in there as well as a few dresses and casual clothes. The rest was put in her closet as 'spare' or if she ever just felt like wearing different clothes. Truthfully, she just wanted to be able to use her closet.

"Everything is going right," Raven said aloud to herself. She smiled and laid down on her bed. Another great day was over. She couldn't wait for the next.

. . . . .

"What's wrong? Are you coming in?" Master Makarov asked. The three children stared at him in confusion.

"Who are you?" the oldest asked.

"I am Makarov, the master of this guild," he said.

"Guild?" the oldest asked again.

"Look up there, that's the name of our guild.

"Fairy Tail…" the youngest one managed to read. They decided to go inside with Makarov. He grabbed a drink and sat on the bar table while the other three sat in front of him. They told him about their travels and about the oldest ones' problem.

"That's take over, a kind of Magic. You're not possessed by a demon. The power of a demon resides within you," Makarov explained, talking about the oldest ones' arm that had been turned into a demons arm.

'The power of a demon… I don't need that,' she thought sadly.

. . . . .

"Er-chan… Something's wrong…" Raven puffed out. She was _already_ out of breath.

"What?" she asked, concerned.

"I normally have more energy and Magic power than this," Raven said, catching her breath. Erza watched the girl curiously. She had no idea what the problem could be. Then something caught her eye.

"Raven, the black clip holding the cloak is glowing. Take it off," Erza said. Raven stared at it inquisitively before shrugging the cloak off. Immediately, she felt a rush of Magic.

"Oh man, I feel all my Magic power coming back, aside from the energy I'd already used. I'll ask Master about it and be right back," Raven said.

"You want me to come with you?" Erza asked.

"No that's alright, I'll only be gone around half an hour," she replied. Erza nodded and went back to training.

. . . . .

"Master," Raven called as she entered the guild and saw him sitting on the bar table.

"Ah, Raven, come meet some new guild members," Master Makarov said. She walked over as saw three white haired siblings sitting there. Raven grinned widely.

"Hi! My name is Raven Harmonia," she said cheerfully.

"My name is Lisanna Strauss," the youngest one said. "This is Elfman and Mirajane, my older brother and sister!"

"Hello," Elfman said shyly while the oldest sibling sat there quietly. Raven understood that some people were like that and wasn't offended by her lack of response.

"Anyway, Master. This pin on my cloak somehow took my power away and when I took it off, it all came back! Could you tell me what it is?" she asked. Makarov looked at the cloak carefully before chuckling.

"Oh it's seems as though it's a Magic suppressor. You won't be able to use half of your Magic's power unless you take it off," Makarov explained.

"Hmm… so if I train with the cloak on, I'll only see half the results but when I take the cloak off, I'll see the full thing?" Raven asked. Makarov chuckled.

"That's one way to look at it," he said. Raven stared deep in thought and then quickly lifted her arm to wave goodbye at everyone. Instead, she accidentally knocked a glass over. Mirajane's quick reflexes got her to stick her arm out to catch it. Raven gasped at what she saw.

"Your arm!" she exclaimed. Mirajane froze and it looked like she was about to cry whereas her two siblings were going to yell in her defense. That was until Raven spoke up again. "Oh my gosh, it's so cool! I want that arm! Can you teach me how to get it? Or where you born with it!? If that's the reason, then I'm so jealous!" The three siblings stared at Raven in shock while Master Makarov just sipped his drink with an amused look in his eye.

"O-oh… uh… I don't…" Mirajane stuttered out. She didn't know what to say! Before she could say anything else, Raven smacked herself in the face.

"I'm sorry but I got to go now! I was training with Erza and just left her there!" she shouted before running out. Everyone laughed as they watched the little girl run out while Mirajane looked at the back of the girl with a hopeful look in her eye.

. . . . .

"Erza-chan! I'm sorry I'm late! There were three new members and I lost track of the time," Raven shouted. Erza laughed.

"Don't worry about it. So, what did Master say?" Erza asked.

"Oh it's a Magic… suppressor. So it cuts the strength of my Magic in half until I take it off. It also makes it seem like I have less power to anyone else," Raven explained. Erza raised an eyebrow.

"So why are you still wearing it?" she asked.

"Well, I plan to train with it on until I'm as good as you so then when I take it off, I'll be even better!" Raven said. Her hands were on her hips and she was grinning at her 'ingenious' plan. Erza held in her laugh and gave her a fake approving nod.

"I'm sure that's a great idea," Erza said. Raven stood there proudly.

"Thank you!" she said. The two got back to training. While Raven was struggling to use her powers, Erza turned to watch the younger girl with a fond smile on her face.

"I would've been so lonely without you. Thank you Raven," Erza said quietly.

"Hmm, what was that?" Raven asked as she turned to face the red haired girl.

"Nothing, nothing. You should start training because at this rate, you'll never catch up to me."

. . . . .

Another month had passed and the two youngest Strauss siblings had managed to get along very well with everyone in the guild while Mirajane was the exact opposite. She wouldn't talk to anyone at all. Anytime someone tried to sit next to her, she would get up and move. Everyone except for Raven, that is. Ever since the day Raven had said she thought Mirajane's arm was cool, she felt a sense of acceptance from the black haired girl and was ok with her being near her. It confused everyone else who didn't know what had happened. Even still though, Mirajane wouldn't talk to Raven. Raven didn't seem to mind and just sat with Mira in peace.

Raven was struggling a little with her training. Of course, she was improving but because she only saw half of the results, she often pushed herself even harder. Even when Erza had left, Raven would stick around for another hour or two. At one point, she had pushed herself too hard and had fallen onto the ground. She couldn't move and her muscles were all sore. She groaned and just lay there.

'I'll just sleep here. Hopefully Erza doesn't get too worried,' Raven thought. She laid down for another ten minutes before she felt someone approaching her. She opened her eyes and turned to look.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I was just taking a walk," Gray said with a stubborn look on his face. Raven laughed and turned back to look at the blue sky.

"Come lie down with me then," Raven said. Gray blushed before hmphing.

"Only because you asked me to," he said before walking over and plopping down next to her. They laid there for a good half an hour in peace. Raven closed her eyes and enjoyed the warmth on her face. Then she opened her mouth and started singing gently.

 _You are my sunshine, my only sunshine  
You make me happy when skies are grey  
You never know, dear, how much I love you  
Please don't take my sunshine away_

 _The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping  
I dreamt I held you in my arms  
When I awoke, dear, I was mistaken  
So I hung my head, and I cried_

 _You are my sunshine, my only sunshine  
You make me happy when skies are grey  
You never know, dear, how much I love you  
Please don't take my sunshine away_

 _I'll always love you and make you happy  
If you will only say the same  
But if you leave me to love another,  
You'll regret it all one day_

 _You are my sunshine, my only sunshine  
You make me happy when skies are grey  
You never know, dear, how much I love you  
Please don't take my sunshine away_

( **watch?v=1moWxHdTkT0** )

"Well, we should get going," Raven said as if she hadn't just sung such a beautiful song in an even lovelier voice. Gray just lay there agape.

"Uh, um, yea… you sing nice," Gray stammered out. Raven just laughed. 'That's the prettiest laugh I've ever heard,' Gray thought.

"Why thank you, Gray-sama," Raven said. Said boy blushed. Raven put her arms behind her and pushed herself up, feeling sore from not moving for half an hour after an intense work out. She stood up, wobbly on her legs. As soon as she took one step, she fell.

"Woah," Gray said, catching her in his arms. "What happened to you?"

"Ugh, over worked myself again," Raven said. "Thanks for catching me."'

"Can you walk?" Gray said. Raven tried to put her leg underneath herself and stand up, before crumbling again.

"Eh heh, no I can't," Raven said sheepishly. Gray sighed.

"I'll carry you then," he said.

"No, no it's ok. I'll just wait a bit," Raven said, embarrassed.

"Don't be silly. Erza will start to worry," Gray said before turning around. "Here, get on my back."

"Fine… thank you," Raven said again. She climbed onto his back somehow and they got going. Raven laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Boy, was she tired. 'He smells nice…' she thought.

"You want to go to the guild or your place?" Gray asked. Raven was brought out her thoughts.

"Uh, my house would probably be best but I don't want Erza to worry," Raven said.

"Don't worry, I'll tell her where you are after I drop you off," Gray said.

"Ok, thanks then!" Raven said. And so the black haired duo made their way to Raven's house.


	12. Switching Partners

_Potatoes._

 **Chapter Eleven**

"Your house is huge!" Gray shouted as they approached the entrance.

"Really? It's quite small compared to some of the other houses I see all the time," Raven said.

"Erza and you share this? How do you pay for it!?" Gray asked. The girl laughed.

"We just go on harder jobs. Say, you want to come in?" she asked.

"I probably shouldn't," Gray said politely.

"Well, you're going to have to come in anyway. I can't walk," Raven said with a chuckle. Gray blushed as he realized this and then frowned.

"Only because I have to," he said while jerking his head to the side. Raven took out one of the two keys to the door, with Erza having the other. She gave it to Gray who unlocked the door.

"It's up the stairs and the second door to the right," Raven said. Gray followed her instructions, looking around the place in awe. It smelled wonderful too. He opened the door to her room and his eyes immediately just scanned over the place. It was very… Raven. He walked over to her bed and gently lay her down. The crystals on the walls were really mesmerizing to him.

"You should at least change into your pyjamas," Gray said. Then he got up and walked towards the door. Raven grinned sneakily before a flash of light was seen. A Magic circle appeared and her body was covered in light before she reappeared with different clothes on.

"Done," she said with a grin.

"Wait what? How…? Is that your Magic?" Gray asked, genuinely confused and curious. The two girls had still not revealed their Magic.

"I don't know… maybe, maybe not," Raven said. Gray frowned at the sassy girl before just chucking at her.

"Goodnight then," Gray said courteously.

"Thank you again! Feel free to look around the house if you want. I recommend the garden! Also, stay out of the room right next to mine. It's Erza's," Raven said before pulling up the blankets and closing her eyes. Gray watched the girl before smiling.

"Bye," he said. Then he put off the lights and closed the door. He went down stairs and roamed around the beautiful house. There were no carpets anywhere, the ground was either hardwood or marble tiled. He went into the dining room and marveled at the red colour. Then he went into the living room and sat on one of the sofas, looking around at the decorations. The walls had a few very large paintings on them and there were beautiful flowers everywhere, though Gray would never admit that out loud. He visited the kitchen and the sunshine yellow colour made him feel warm. There was a picture of both the girls who lived in the house on the window sill of the window in front of the sink. Gray couldn't help but stare at the black haired girl more than the red haired one. Then he peered out of the window and was amazed at what he saw.

He walked out the kitchen door that led to the garden and just stared in awe. Then he took a seat on one of the garden chairs and just gazed around. There were colours _everywhere_. There wasn't one place that wasn't covered in flowers aside from the mini patio in front of the door that held the chairs and a table. Yet at the same time, it was somewhat organized. Gray had seen Raven give flowers to everyone in the guild but he had never imagined that she got them from her backyard.

Finally, Gray felt like he overstayed his welcome and finally got up to head to the guild. He exited the front door and closed it, hesitant to leave. He frowned as he realized he didn't want to go and was confused before just shrugging it off and heading to the guild. When he arrived, he spotted Erza and went up to her.

"Erza, Raven is back at home. She asked me to tell you," Gray said casually.

"What happened? Why did you tell me this?" Erza asked, immediately going into protective mode. Gray feared for his life and quickly tried to save himself.

"I just bumped into her after she trained and she said she was tired! I walked her home and… Nothing happened!" Gray shouted. Erza looked him over suspiciously before nodding.

"Alright thanks for looking after her then," Erza said gratefully. Gray breathed out in relief.

"Oh did ice princess take home a girl?" Natsu asked, popping out of nowhere. Gray blushed hard.

"NO! Stay out of this flame brain," Gray shouted back before they began to fight. Then the guild turned into chaos as things flew around everywhere.

. . . . .

Raven and Erza continued their training, with Raven's still being as intense and harsh as ever. It wasn't as if she was just pushing herself for the heck of it but she genuinely enjoyed the training. And, she never _ever_ wanted to become someone's slave ever again.

Months had passed before anything interesting happened in the guild. Raven had just managed to cast physical darkness as an attack and melt into shadows, though she wasn't the best at it yet. Her speed was quite impressive and her strength was becoming well known in the guild. Her and Erza were taking on mission after mission and they were becoming increasingly harder up until the point where the only thing harder was an S-Class job. Erza had turned 13 while Raven had turned 11, their birthdays being close to one another.

"Listen up brats!" Master Makarov shouted as everyone needed was in the guild. They all quieted down and turned around to look up at the master. "We have some pretty strong mages among us! Once again, the annual S-Class Mage Promotion Trial has arrived!"

"What's that?" Raven asked with her head tilted to the side.

"It's a huge exam in which mages have to complete a series of trials to pass. Then they will become an S-Class mage. Of course, there is only one winner but don't let that fool you. There may be a chance that no one wins!" Makarov announced. Raven nodded to herself. She honestly didn't think she was ready for S-Class yet, especially with only being 11.

"The mages who are elected this year are… Kyoyama Tomi, Misori Suzu, Suzuhito Kaoru, Dreyar Laxus, Conbolt Macao, and Mine Wakaba!"

The six contestants looked up at Makarov. Tomi and Laxus were both smirking. Kaoru and Suzu had smiles on their faces. Macao and Wakaba were freaking out.

"This year will be a little different! The six contestants will _need_ to pick partners! They will work with their partners for half of the exam. Then the non-contestants will have to stand to the side as the competitors end the exams alone!" Makarov explained. Laxus frowned while Tomi, Suzu, and Kaoru began looking around for their partners already. Macao and Wakaba began freaking out even more as they realized that their usual partner was competing.

"Those not in the exams will be able to watch from afar. The exams will take place in exactly a week! All contestants are to arrive at the guild early at seven in the morning with their partners! That is all and I wish you good luck," Makarov said before going back to drinking.

"Wow, S-Class… Do you think we'll be able to become S-Class?" Raven turned to Erza and asked. Erza just smiled confidently.

"I know we will," she said. The two girls got a pair of milkshakes and sat down in a booth. They were saying something about a vacation to the beach when they were interrupted.

"Raven-chan, Erza-chan!" a voice called. The two girls turned to see Macao and Wakaba, sweating hard.

"Are you guys alright?" Raven asked.

"Well you see, we both need partners and Erza is scary so we were wondering if you two would partner up with us two," Wakaba said. "Please…" Macao added. Raven looked at Erza and grinned.

"I guess our vacation will have to wait. Sure, I will," Raven said with a smile.

"I suppose, why not," Erza said, agreeing to join too.

"Who partners up with who?" Raven asked.

"Who's stronger?" Macao asked with a laugh. He was joking but Raven took it as a serious question.

"Hmm, I would have to say Erza," Raven said. Erza blushed.

"No, no Raven is," she said.

"Well we don't know your Magic so I guess you two can choose," Wakaba said.

"How about you pick a number, Macao-san, and the girl who chooses the number closest to you will get to be on your team?" Raven suggested.

"Now, now. Don't call me Macao-san. It makes me feel old! Ok, I'm thinking of a number from 1-10," Macao said with a grin.

"3," Erza said.

"Uh, 7!" Raven guessed. Macao sweat dropped.

"It was 5… ok, ok guess again," he said.

"10!" Raven said, going first this time.

"3," Erza said again. Raven laughed at her.

"It was 9 this time, so I guess Raven is my partner," Macao said. Wakaba mentally cheered. He got the older one who he had actually seen fight a few times, and she was pretty strong. Macao on the other hand didn't really want to be an S-Class mage and just went with the flow.

"Well Macao! We should go train now!" Raven cheered.

"Wakaba, we will win," Erza said, letting her competitive side overtake her. Raven laughed.

. . . . .

"There's so much we need to do!" Raven announced.

"Right you are. But first, I need to know what Magic you use," Macao said, amused at her enthusiasm.

"Yes, that and then we need to train in working together as a team. Then we need to figure out the other competitors Magic and how they fight. Lastly, we need to wear matching outfits!" Raven shouted. Macao sweat drop.

"I agree with you on everything but the matching outfits," Macao said. Raven pouted but went with it. Then she gave him a rundown on her Magic. She even showed him what she could do with the surroundings. Macao was at first shocked and then frightened and then finally, impressed. "What the hell girly! You could be an S-Class mage yourself," Macao said. Raven laughed.

"This isn't much, honestly. I still need a lot, _a lot_ , more practice with my Magic," she replied modestly.

"You'll be one in no time," he said.

"Well, it's time to get to work," Raven said.

"What's first on the list then?" Macao asked, deciding to let the girl take the lead. He may not really want to be an S-Class mage, but he still couldn't let Wakaba beat him! And Raven seemed to have a good idea on what she wanted to do.

"We need to be able to fight as a team. Apart from that, we also need to talk about the other contestants and what happens if we have to either fight with them or work with them. They are our competitors for a reason," Raven said.

"You may be young, but you have a sharp mind, huh?" Macao stated, more than asked.

"Really? I thought this was quite logical," Raven said. Macao just laughed as the two finally got down to business.

. . . . .

A week had passed and Raven was embarrassed to say she had gotten slightly more stronger than she had in the past month. Macao may not have seemed like it, but he gave great advice and different methods of training that showed better results. She was eternally grateful for that and the idea of working with other people instead of just Erza was implanted in her head.

"Macao, this is it, eh," Raven said. Macao chuckled at the girl. He could clearly see she was nervous.

"Rae-chan, take a deep breath. Whether I win or not, I'm honestly glad that I was able to work with you for this short week. Let's just have fun with this," Macao said. Raven listened and took a deep breath, calming down.

"Thanks Macao. I had fun this past week and… well, you're right. Let's have some fun," she said to the older boy.

The duo made their way to the guild, ten minutes before seven. When they arrived, they saw most of the competitors and their partners. The only one missing was Laxus and his partner.

"Er-chan! I haven't seen you in so long!" Raven cooed as she saw Erza. Said girl laughed.

"It has only been a week," she said. The two girls had stayed in the partner's house so they could get the most out of the one week they had.

"I missed you!" Raven said with dramatic tears streaming down her face. She tackled the girl in a hug.

"I missed you too, Rae. But now it's time to focus," Erza said, her eyes getting soft at the smaller girl hugging her.

"I know! Let's have fun," Raven said. They heard a scoff.

"Fun? Little girls, this is not a game," Tomi said, coming up from behind them. They both turned and stared at the older teenage boy. He was nearly eighteen.

"We know! But that doesn't mean we can't have fun at the same time," Raven said with a cheer.

"Please, little kids like you don't have a place here. This is for the adults," Tomi said. Erza's face hardened as the older boy began to tease her Raven.

"You're barely an adult," Raven pointed out. Tomi's face turned red in embarrassment at this true fact. He walked closed to Raven threateningly. That was crossing the line for Erza. She requiped a sword and pointed it menacingly at Tomi's throat.

"Stay. Away. From her," Erza hissed. Tomi froze and one look at Erza's glare made him flinch. He backed up with his hands in the air and then made a 'tch' noise with his mouth.

"Whatever," he said and walked away.

"Thank Er-chan, but I could've handled it myself," Raven said with a sweat drop. Erza put her sword away and crossed her arms.

"I was just being safe," she said. Raven laughed but before she could say anything, the clock struck at seven.

"Welcome to the annual S-Class Mage Promotion Trials, brats!" Master Makarov announced. "Let's begin."


	13. About Time

**I'm back~**

 **Chapter Twelve**

Raven went to stand by Macao as they stood and listened to Makarov.

"There are three trials! The first trial will have twelve people, six contestants. It is the longest trial. The second trial will have eight people, four contestants. The last trial will be a one on one," Makarov started off with. "The last two trials will be available for the rest of the guild to watch. Now, follow me to the first trial," Makarov stated. Then he walked out of the guild. Everyone else followed behind him.

They walked for half an hour, weaving through a forest, until they came upon a mountain. Everyone stared at the mountain in awe. There was a cave entrance in the front where everyone was.

"The goal for this trial is to be able to make it to the end. There will be flags at the end to show that you passed. Four of you can pass while two will be eliminated," Makarov explained.

"Huh, that's not too-" Wakaba started before Makarov cut him off.

"Of course, there will be traps and creatures inside to hinder you," Makarov finished.

"You just _had_ to jinx it," Macao teased.

"There are eight pathways to go through, they are all trapped so it doesn't matter which you choose. If you happen to run into other contestants, then you are free to attack each other," Makarov said.

"I hope we don't run into anyone…" Raven said quietly.

"Alright, ready, get set, go brats!" Master Makarov announced. Everyone immediately ran in with the exception of Raven and Macao who was being pulled back by the former.

"What are you doing!?" Macao shouted. Raven gave him a dead pan look.

"Master? Can we go around the mountain? Or over it?" Raven asked in a sweet voice, batting her eyelashes.

"Well, there was no rule against it so I don't see why not. Only if you can though," the master said, curious as to how the girl and her teammate were going to manage to get around or above. Raven's sweet smile turned mischievous.

"Perfect," she said. "Are you ready Macao?"

"I always hate this," he muttered. A black Magic circle appeared under her as she began to lift off of the ground. A black Magic circle appeared on her one hand to as she lifted Macao. Though the circle disappeared, her hands (as well as Macao) turned black with white outlines. He began to levitate with her and the two made their way over the mountain. Master Makarov just watched amused.

"Who knew the girl could do that?" he said. "Smart move too."

. . . . .

"Raven, stop it!" Macao shouted at the girl. She was currently spinning him around while laughing.

"Sorry! I was having fun," she said, definitely not sorry.

"I wasn't," Macao muttered. They had just made it over the mountain and were currently sinking to the ground.

"It seems as though we're first," Raven said.

"It also feels like we're cheating," Macao said. Raven pouted.

"I don't think so. In real life, you're not going to play fairly. You're going to do everything and anything you can to win!" Raven lectured. They had finally reached the ground and Raven gently placed him down. He rubbed the back of his head.

"That's true…" he said.

"Let's go get our flag," the black haired girl said. Macao grinned.

"You're right. Let's go," he said. They walked forward and spotted four different poles stuck in the ground. On the poles were four flags; a purple, a red, a gray, and a yellow flag.

"If we take all four…" Raven said with another impish grin.

"No. Come on, that would definitely feel like cheating," Macao said. Raven pouted.

"Fine, just take a flag then," she said with a frown, prompting Macao to grab the purple flag. The duo make their way straight down the only path present and after ten minutes, come across Master Makarov.

"We made it!" Raven said with a smile.

"Wait… how did you get here so fast?" Macao asked. Makarov chuckles.

"I have my ways. Now brats, you were the smartest and got here the fastest. So, you'll be informed of what the second trial is as well as given time to relax and prepare," Makarov said.

"Yay!" Raven cheered. Macao rolled his eyes at the little girl.

"The second trial is a two on two battle with competitors. The winners of those matches move on to trial three without their partners," Makarov explained.

"Will you tell us who we're against? Pwease!?" Raven begged. Master Makarov took one look at her puppy face and melted. He looked around to see if anyone was listening in before whispering softly.

"Most likely Wakaba and Erza," he said before putting his arms behind him and standing up straight. Macao's jaw dropped.

"You told her…just like that…" he muttered out. Raven just laughed.

"Thank you," she said and ran over to the old man to give him a hug. The only reason Makarov had told them that was because, and not to offend anyone, he was almost 100% certain that Macao wasn't going to become an S-Class mage. And not because he couldn't but because he wasn't motivated enough and at this point, he just wasn't strong enough. He was almost certain too that Laxus was going to become an S-Class mage. Makarov sighed because he didn't know how he felt about that.

. . . . .

It took an hour for the other three pairs to make their way out. Macao and Raven had spent the most of the hour planning how they would take out Wakaba and Erza. They also spent ten minutes talking about how they would fight if it wasn't the two, but they believed Master. The first pair to come out was Laxus and his partner, Bickslow. They grabbed the yellow flag. Following them was Wakaba and his partner, Erza, whom grabbed the gray one. Lastly, surprisingly was Tomi and his partner, Tanaka. They took the last flag; the red one.

"Oh ho, it seems like this place is filled with children," Tomi announced, being one of the older candidates there.

"I wouldn't say that considering you came last," Raven said to him. There was no venom in her voice though, she was just stating a fact. Tomi fumed.

"After I become S-Class, I'm going to beat you to a pulp," Tomi threatened. Erza perked up.

"What was that?" she asked in a harsh voice. Tomi froze.

"Nothin'," he said with a growl and stomped away.

"Welcome you eight! You have passed the first trial. The next one will start, right away! The other two contestants have been removed from the cave and are now with everyone else in the stands. They will be watching you," Master Makarov announced.

"What's the second trial, oji?" Laxus asked, getting impatient. Raven observed the teenage boy. She could tell his Magic power wasn't something to laugh about and he'd only get stronger. The master sighed.

"The second trial is a two on two battle. You will be fighting with you partners against another team," Master Makarov explained.

"First up will be the second place team of the cave run against the forth team. That would be Laxus and Bickslow against Tomi and Tanaka. We'll be moving to a larger field, a ten minute walk away," Master Makarov explained. Raven was getting pumped.

. . . . .

Raven watched on the left side of the field with the other competitors while the second and forth teams faced each other. Laxus was standing there with a grin while Tomi was getting into a stance. Bickslow on the other hand was standing to the side as Laxus had told him not to interfere. Tanaka was standing right next to Tomi, getting into her own stance. On the right side of the field was every other guild member, itching to see a good fight.

"Begin!" Makarov announced, standing in the middle of the field, but away from the fight. Immediately, Tomi and Tanaka's hands began to glow as a light blue and violet Magic circle appeared to the respective people.

" **Wind Bullets**!" Tomi shouted.

" **Blossoming Violet**!" Tanaka called. A blast of air shot out at Laxus and Tanaka's Magic added purple razor sharp petals into the attack. The wind caused the petals to move at a faster speed.

"Wow, they work well together," Raven admired.

"They've been partners for years. They arrived at the guild together," Wakaba stated. Then Raven watched in shock as Laxus simply sidestepped the attack. Her mouth was wide open.

"Laxus uses lightning Magic which he also uses to make himself faster," Macao explained.

" **Raging Bolt** ," Laxus said, lifting his hands to shoot a bolt of lightning at his opponents. In ten seconds flat, the battle was over and Tomi and Tanaka laid on the ground, unconscious. People cheered at the fight, though they were expecting something more. Makarov frowned before moving forward.

"Laxus will move on alone to the third trial. Next is Macao with Raven against Wakaba with Erza!" Master Makarov announced. Said people stepped onto the field and waited for the field to clear up.

"Good luck, Er-chan," Raven said with a grin.

"I'm not going to hold back on you, just because you're my sister," Erza said with her own smirk. Raven's smile faltered for a second. She hated the word sister. _Nee-chan._ But then she realized… it was Erza. The smile came back even wider.

"I would certainly hope you didn't," Raven said.

"Are you ready?" Makarov asked. Macao and Wakaba were also exchanging words but then they became serious.

"We're ready," Raven said.

"Then… begin!" the master announced. Raven smirked and then shot forward, taking Wakaba with her. The goal was to split up Wakaba and Erza. Macao had agreed to let the little girl take care of his partner while he took care of hers.

"What the!?" Wakaba spat out as he was pushed back, away from his partner. Erza turned to look at her partner but a blast of fire surrounded her.

"Never turn your back to your opponent Erza-chan," Macao said teasingly. The whole audience roared in cheer. Laxus's fight was over to quickly for them but now, seeing this fight, they were getting excited.

"Well, seems like I'll be fighting you," Wakaba said to Raven. The girl simply put on the hood of her cloak and grinned mysteriously. No one had ever seen Erza and Raven fight and the suspense was just killing the crowd.

"It'll be over quick," Raven said.

"Don't take me so lightly. **Smoke Crush**!" he announced. A green Magic circle appeared on his pipe. Smoke then started pouring out from his pipe and formed into different streaks of smoke. At the end of each streak was a smoke fist. They all lunged towards Raven who grinned. A black Magic circle appeared from under her and she began to float.

"Er-chan and I know we can't hide our Magic forever. So this is the time where I will go all out and fight," Raven said. She flew up and dodged the fists coming towards her, watching as they dispersed.

" **Dark Spears** ," Raven said with her hands out. Two black Magic circles appeared by her hands, though her hands didn't turn black, and spikes of dark matter where shot out at Wakaba who was able to dodge all the spears but one. It went through his chest.

"What… I don't fell an- AH!" he screamed. He collapsed to the ground, holding his chest.

'An attack that causes the nerves to respond with pain, though there was no wound. Perfect for battles in which you don't truly want to harm anyone,' Raven thought. 'Let me finish his off quickly.'

Raven levitated down and charged at Wakaba who was only now getting up. Quicker than he could respond to, she hit him on the back of the neck, causing him to fall to the ground. Then she turned quickly to go assist Macao but was too late when she saw him fall to the ground, also unconscious.

"My, what a turn," Raven said with a smile.

"Indeed it is. Now that the warm up is over, we should both fight seriously," Erza said. Raven raised an eyebrow.

"Ever since I got my cloak, you've never seen my train with it off. Even when we spar, it's on," she said.

"And I always win in those spars," Erza retorted.

"Over and over, you beat me down when we fight. But now, I'll be taking this off. Let's fight for real Erza. No holding back," Raven said.

"I agree. Whenever you're ready," the red haired girl said, requiping into her usual armor and one sword in hand. Raven smiled and stored her cloak away. The black haired girl lifted her arms and stretched.

"It feels good to take that thing off. Let's go," Raven challenged, requiping her own sword in hand. The two girls stared each other down. A black aura rose around Raven, showing off her immense Magic and strength. Similarly, Erza began to give off a red aura. The audience watched, dead silent. There was a mix of emotions. Excitement and suspense were prominent.

Then the two girls shot forward at each other.


	14. Missing

I would consider my main character OP tbh. But oh well.

Chapter Thirteen

" **Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armour**!" Erza shouted. Her body was surrounded in light for a brief second and when it faded, she was suited in a white and blue armour that had four wings. She did this all in the matter of seconds she had while flying towards Raven. " **Pentagram Sword**!" Erza called, attacking first. Raven, who was still flying forward took her own sword in hand.

" **Shield Cut** ," Raven said. Her sword began to glow a dark blue colour before she made two cuts in the form of a large X. The cuts clashed with the pentagram shape coming towards her and they both cancelled out. Raven may not be as skilled as Erza, but she had been practicing too.

The two girls collided, using their swords to clash against one another before they landed a few feet apart. Then they ran at each other. Raven would attack and then Erza would block. Then Erza would attack back while Raven would defend. Eventually, Erza began to overpower Raven. Raven hopped back and before Erza could attack, she stuck her arms out beside her. They were facing the sides of the forest. Then her hands began to glow black with white outlines.

The trees surrounding the whole group of Fairy Tail members began to glow. Then Raven lifted her arms. The trees lifted with her hands. Erza looked around her, cautious and surprised. She didn't realize Raven had gotten so strong. Then Raven flung her hands at Erza. The tress once again followed along. Tree after tree began to shoot at Erza who had to begin jumping and running everywhere to avoid getting hit. Then she requiped two swords in her hands and began slicing at the trees she just couldn't avoid.

" **Requip: Flight Armour**!" Erza said. She requiped into a cheetah like armour that increased her speed. She was able to avoid all the trees, getting a few scratches and bruises here and there, but nothing too major. Then her sword began to glow as it requiped into an elemental sword. Erza pointed the sword and Raven and a wave of fire was unleashed. Raven couldn't use her sword to shield her in time, so she used her darkness and shadow control Magic.

" **Force Block** ," she said, lifting her arms in front of her. A black rectangular block materialized in front of Raven and acted as her shield. Erza couldn't see behind the shield and so Raven took this opportunity to smirk and slip into her shadow. Then she was able to control it and its movement. Erza merely jumped over the force block and landed, confused when she couldn't see Raven. Then said girl jumped out of the ground, kicking Erza's sword out of her hand.

"I won't give you a chance to requip another sword," Raven said. The girl was sure Erza would be able to requip her sword faster in the years to come, but she knew that now, the girl wasn't fast enough with all of Raven's attacks. She then began to punch at the girl, causing Erza to have to defend with both arms. The two girls quickly engaged in a hand-to-hand combat fight. Erza's mind whirred as she tried to find a way to requip a sword out or at least reach the swords on the ground. Then she smirked. She kicked up at the ground and dirt flew into Raven's face. The black haired girl growled and jumped back to wipe her face while the red haired girl managed to requip her swords.

"Seems like I made an opening for myself," Erza teased. Raven growled before raising and eyebrow with a smirk.

"I never took you for someone who played dirty," Raven said. The two girls paused and gave each other a look over. They were both tiring out and had plenty of scratches and bruises. Finally Raven decided to bring out her biggest weapon so far. She smiled evilly as most of her soul left her body. It was black and soon grew into a large raven that hovered over her. The raven charged at Erza and unfortunately, she was took slow to move. It engulfed her and then flew high into the air. Then it stopped and began to spiral down to the ground. The astral projection then went back to Raven as Erza fell to the ground. Everyone's eyes widened in fear for the girl but Raven merely lifted her hand. Just as Erza was around three feet off the ground, a black aura surrounded her and stopped her fall.

"I believe I win," Raven said before gently placing the girl on the ground. Erza stood up, out of breath, but still with a smile on her face. Raven had done that to her before and she still hadn't found a way to stop it.

"You're getting better at that. Yes, I admit. I lost," Erza said. As soon as Erza said that, the whole crowd began to cheer. They were shouting loudly and applauding. Raven went over to Erza and helped her up off the ground. Then Raven requiped her cloak back on, subduing her Magic once again.

"I knew my two brats were strong but I never expected you to be this strong," Master Makarov admitted as he walked towards the two girls.

"And we'll only get stronger!" Raven said confidently. Erza smiled at her friend… sister.

"Well… unfortunately, this is not your S-Class Mage Promotion Trial and fortunately for Macao, he moves on," the master said with a grin.

"That's alright. I still think I'm too young to become S-Class," Raven said and Erza nodded in agreement. Macao and Wakaba had woken up ages ago and were watching the match in awe. They got up and joined the two girls and the master. The crowd had also began to make their way to the centre.

"I never expected you to be _this_ strong! Even after you showed me your Magic," Macao said with a laugh. "You too Erza!"

"Oh, uh thank you," Erza said with a blush. She didn't think she would get praised for her Magic. Raven laughed and then the rest of the guild arrived.

"Erza! Raven! Fight me!" Natsu shouted and ran forward to tackle the girls. Erza simply punched him on the head and sighed as he fell to the ground.

"The third trial will begin in an hours' time. Get rested brats and come back here. Laxus and Macao, you two will be fighting!" Master Makarov announced. Raven raised an eyebrow at that. 'Another fight? I guess S-Class _is_ all about power and Magic…' she thought.

"Er-chan! Can we go get food?" Raven said. She was starving!

"Of course. Shall I cook something or would you like to eat out?" Erza asked. Raven looked around. Most of the guild members had left for the hour but surrounding them were the children; Natsu, Gray, Cana, Levy, Mirajane, Elfman, and Lisanna.

"How about we all go out and eat?" Raven asked everyone.

"I'd like that," Levy said shyly.

"Me too!" Lisanna cheered. Eventually, everyone had agreed including Erza and so they went to go eat at a restaurant.

. . . . .

"So! Erza, Raven, I didn't know you guys were so strong!" Cana said. Natsu was fuming in the corner after losing to Erza.

"We're not that strong…" Raven said with a sweat drop. She looked over at everyone currently sitting around her. She felt… so happy. The days of slavery may have been over but the memories would always be there. She honestly never thought she would've been able to cheer up but now… she was happy. She leaned onto Erza who was sitting next to her and just smiled as the red haired girl looked down at her in confusion before shrugging and eating her food. Raven wondered how different Erza would've been if she wasn't there. Would she even be different?

"We should get back. The third trial is about to begin!" Natsu said, perking up. The kids all nodded and finished eating quickly before heading over to the field. When they arrived, they immediately ran to the front to get good spots. They plopped down on the ground and chatted with each other as they waited.

"Look! There they are," Elfman said, pointing to Laxus and Macao. They were standing on the field, watching each other. Raven laughed as she saw the expression on Macao's face. She could tell he didn't want to be there at all. Makarov stepped forward and grinned.

"It's time for the third trial! Laxus against Macao. Are you two ready?" the master asked. Laxus grunted while Macao just gave him a nervous grin.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Macao said.

"Then… begin!" Makarov announced. The two opponents stood still, watching the other. Then, impatient as ever to get the match over with, Macao made the first move.

" **Purple Flare**!" he shouted. He shot blasts of purple fire at Laxus who ran forward, dodging the attacks. Laxus used his incredible speed to run forward and aimed a punch at Macao's face.

" **Purple Net** ," Macao said, summoning up a net made of fire. Normally it was meant to catch things or hold things but Macao changed the properties of it to make the fire burn. Laxus crashed right into the net before jumping off of it. He hissed as he had gotten slightly burnt.

" **Raging Bolt** ," Laxus said, lifting his hands to aim a bolt of lightning at Macao. Said man instinctively jumped to the side, falling, and then rolling. Miraculously, he avoided taking damage from the attack.

" **Purple Tornado** ," Macao called. Purple fire rose from underneath Laxus and began to twist upwards into a tornado. Laxus growled inside and used sheer will and power to jump out of the Magic fire tornado. He had had enough. Using his lightning Magic, he sped up his body and approached Macao at a speed that he couldn't catch up with. In panic, Macao tried the same thing as before.

" **Purple Net**!" he shouted.

"The same thing won't work on me!" Laxus said and came up from behind Macao where the net wasn't covering him.

" **Raging Bolt** ," Laxus used again. It hit Macao directly and the man screamed in pain before falling to the ground. He didn't get up.

"Winner, Dreyar Laxus!" Master Makarov announced. "From this moment on, Laxus is now an S-Class mage!"

The crowd began cheering, satisfied with at least a fight that lasted longer than a minute. Raven ran over to Macao and shook him awake.

"Wha… what happened?" he asked, dazed.

"Laxus knocked you out. You lost," she said sadly. Macao just laughed.

"That's alright. I just couldn't lose to Wakaba," he said, stretching out his muscles.

"I had fun," Raven said. Macao smiled at the little girl.

"So did I," he said. Everyone went back to the guild to celebrate the fact that there was another S-Class mage. They partied all night and Raven ended up joining the fight that naturally occurred. She was home.

. . . . .

Raven woke up in her bed. She yawned and then stretched. Getting up, she opened her curtains and stared at the garden view. It was time for a garden trim. The smell of bacon and eggs then became known to her nose.

"Erza-chan! I love you!" she shouted as she made her way downstairs. She was surprised when she saw, not just Erza, but also Cana and Gray.

"Raven… your clothes," Erza said, not even taking her eyes off of the food she was cooking. Raven looked down at her clothes.

"What about it?" she asked. She wasn't one to wear a lot when sleeping and so she was in a pair of pyjama shorts and a sports bra. Then she looked at Gray who was blushing furiously and looking away. She was confused.

"Apparently here, it is inappropriate to wear such clothing in front of others," Erza said.

"But Gray strips all the time," Raven said with her head tilted.

"Hey!" said boy shouted.

"Just change," Erza said, exasperated. She finally turned around from the stove and gave Raven a pointed glare. Raven just stuck out her tongue before requiping into her normal outfit, including the cape.

"So, why are you guys here?" Raven asked, sitting down at the kitchen table to eat with them.

"Oh, we were wondering if you'd help us with a job request!" Cana said cheerfully.

"Today?" Raven asked.

"Yea, we'd like to leave soon. After breakfast in fact," Gray said.

"Erza are you going?" Raven asked. The red haired girl joined them at the table.

"Yes, it sounds good to me. What do you think?" Erza asked, eating some eggs.

"In all honesty, I was thinking of tending to my garden today. After the S-Class Trials, I wanted a break," Raven said. "But Erza, you go."

"That's understandable. Ok, I'll be going with them then. The job should be finished in three days max," Erza said.

"Perfect, I'll see you then," Raven said. They finished eating breakfast and then Erza left with Cana and Gray, leaving Raven at the house. She smiled to herself as she ate her breakfast. 'I guess Erza is finally opening up to people. She went on her first mission without me,' she thought.

Raven got up and spent most of the morning and afternoon cutting all her flowers and bundling them together. After she had cleaned up the garden, she went and handed out all the flowers to random people she passed by as well as people at the guild. With a bright smile, she headed back to her house. The whole day was spent worthwhile to the young girl.

"Two more days to myself, huh. What should I do?" Raven asked out loud. She was sitting at the kitchen table, eating dinner. 'Oh I know! I can go visit Maria!' Raven thought. With that thought in mind, she went off to sleep so she could wake up early for the trip to Maria's.

. . . . .

The next morning, Raven woke up early and got ready. She filled a bag with a few left over crystals and decided she would also buy Maria a present on the way. Then she went to the garden and picked a few flowers, forming them into a bouquet. With everything ready, she made her way to the guild to tell someone where she was in case Erza came back early.

"Hey, Macao! If you see Erza today, please tell her I'm at Maria's house," Raven said to the teenage boy.

"Sure thing. Who's Maria?" he asked.

"Oh just an old friend who helped me out when I first arrived here. I've visited her a few times before but I've never really gotten her anything," Raven explained.

Suddenly, the doors burst open. Raven turned to look at what the commotion was, as well as everyone else.

"Help!"

It was Cana. Raven immediately froze up.

"Cana. Where's Erza?" Raven asked quietly.

"She was kidnapped!"


	15. Old Friend, New Enemy

**Are my chapters too short?**

 **Chapter Fourteen**

"She protected us from an attack but was knocked unconscious. The attackers kidnapped her and now Gray is chasing after them. He told me to come here and get help," Cana explained in a blur. Raven was scarily quiet. The guild stirred and began a loud uproar until a pungent killing intent became eminent. Everything went quiet as everyone turned and stared with wide eyes at Raven, the little eleven year old. She was still wearing her cape, yet a dark black aura was rising up and surrounding her.

"Where?" Raven simply asked.

"The lake by Sandfort Town," Cana said. And that was the last thing Raven heard as she requiped her cape off and shot through the doors. No one had any time to say anything to the girl.

"…she's scarier than Erza…" Natsu said.

As soon as she was outside, a black raven grew above her. It surrounded her and lifted off of the ground, bringing the girl with it. The large raven then shot off, faster than Raven could levitate. She knew exactly where Sandfort Town was, having gone there time after time for several jobs. It wasn't that far and with the speed of Raven's astral projection, she got there in no time at all.

Still in the sky, she began to look around for anything. She had debated whether to go speak to anyone in the town but she was too impatient. She eventually made her way into the desert that surrounded the Northern side of the town. Scanning the ground, she spent ten minutes flying. So many emotions were flying through her mind right now. Anger. Frustration. Regret.

 _Fear_.

Finally she spotted a black mop of hair. She swooped down and landed next to the boy who was just standing there, waiting.

"Gray." She said. He flinched at the surprise landing.

"Raven! Thank god, they took Erza," he said, worried.

"I know. Where are they?" she asked. He was standing there, just staring at something.

"Over there. It may just all look like sand but there's a secret passageway covered in a thin layer of sand," Gray explained, as he pointed to it.

"Then let's go," Raven said, beginning to make her way to the entrance. Gray grabbed her arm.

"Wait, you're being too reckless! Let's wait for the others," he tried to reason. Raven glared at him, making him frown. She jerked her arm away from him. For the first time since she heard Erza had been kidnapped, she raised her voice.

"Are you serious!? Erza has been kidnapped and you want to WAIT!? I can't wait! That's my sister! What if she needs my help NOW and I'm not there! I told her she wasn't alone anymore and I am going to _keep my promise_. I won't let anything hurt her again!" Raven shouted, eventually lowering her voice. Her eyes welled up with tears. "Now, I'm either going alone or with you," she finally said. Gray sighed.

"Sorry, you're right. And I can't let you go in there alone. Let's go then," Gray said. Raven nodded and they made their way to the entrance. Gray began wiping sand away from everywhere until he eventually found a stone slab with a handle. He took the handle and, with some effort, dragged the slab off, revealing a set of stairs. The two children looked at each other and nodded.

They made their way down the steps. It was dully lit with weak light emitting from lamps hanging from the walls. But it was quiet. They were in a large room with two separate openings each leading to a hall.

"Should we split–" Raven began but was interrupted. A blade was shot at each of the children. Raven immediately reacted and shot her leg up to kick the blade from the bottom, causing the blade to fly just above her head. Gray on the other hand was a bit slow and was only able to lift his arms up. Luckily, Raven was watching over him and she only managed to push him away. The blade ended up skimming her arm, which started to bleed.

"Shit, I'm sorry," Gray started but Raven shushed him.

"Not now, I need you to focus. Someone knows we're here," Raven said. Just as she said that, a group of people filled the room, entering through both doorways. They were all wearing dark red cloaks. Raven turned, her back was facing Gray's back. The enemies entered and circled the two kids.

"Who are you?" Gray asked them. One person, wearing a lighter red cloak, stepped forward.

"We are the Ketsueki-juu," a female voice said.

"The Blood Beasts?" Raven asked to herself.

"You have our friend! Give her back!" Gray shouted. The apparent leader of the group just chuckled.

"No thank you. We need those girls," she said. Then snapped her fingers and the other dark red cloaked members attacked.

" **Piercing Spears** ," Raven shouted, lifting her hands. A black Magic circle appeared and dark spikes shot from Raven's hand. It looked similar to the dark spears that Raven had used on Wakaba but these ones didn't just affect the nerves. The attack shot forward and hit several Ketsueki members who let out a scream. Blood shot out everywhere and covered the walls. She turned around to see that Gray had also managed to take out a few members. Then Raven faced the leader.

"My, it seems like you children are mages," she said.

"Your weak comrades were not match for us, especially because they weren't," Raven spat out.

"Good thing I am," the leader said. Raven could practically hear the smirk in her voice. Then out of nowhere, Gray attacked Raven with an ice sword.

"Wait, what!? Gray, what are you doing!?" Raven shouted to the boy. He said nothing and Raven could see a blank look in his eyes. The lady cackled.

"My Magic is puppet Magic. I can only control one puppet at a time but that will be enough to take you both out!" the leader said.

"I can't hurt Gray…" Raven muttered, trying to figure out how to beat the leader. 'Well, I don't have to attack him. Just her,' she thought. 'Actually, this isn't hard at all. What am I talking about?' Raven thought once more. Then she chuckled. Sometimes, she was such an airhead.

" **Ice Make: Lance** ," Gray mumbled out monotonously. His hands flashed with light blue and ice spears shout out at Raven.

"Oh, did I forget to mention. I also absorb my puppets Magic so you might want to hurry before your friend dies," the leader said. Raven completely froze, allowing for three of the ice attacks to hit her, two in the left arm, and one hit her stomach. She skidded back and fell to the ground.

"Die…" Raven whispered out. Her eyes were wide and her breath was coming out heavily.

 _She had lost the closest thing she had to a parent, Rob. She slowly stood up and looked around. Then her eyes widened as she spotted a green mop of hair. She ran towards it._

 _"_ _Susan! Susan, no!" she screamed. She fell to her knees in front of the body and picked it up gently. The poor girl was dead._

"Oh ho, seems like time is almost up," the leader said as Gray fell to one knee. Raven immediately snapped, both into action and inside.

"NO!" she screamed. A dark purple Magic circle appeared under Raven. Her eyes began to glow a bright white and her hair flew back. She would _not_ lose another friend. " **Hell's Pull**."

"What's happening..!? Wait! I'm sorry! STOP!" the leader shouted as a dark purple pit opened up from under her. Dark purple skeleton arms rose from the pit and began to pull the leader down slowly. She struggled but nothing she did worked. The arms slowly pulled her down until only her head was showing. "Please…" she whimpered. That was the last thing she ever said as the arms covered her head and fully pulled her down. The pit closed and Raven watched with shocked eyes. She… had done that? Then she turned her head away for the moment.

"Gray!?" she called. She quickly crawled to his body and rested his head on her lap. Her eyes started watering as she stared at his motionless form. She began to gently shake him and call his name even louder. Finally, his forehead crinkled and his eyes slowly opened.

"…Rae?" he said.

"I'm here," she said softly, a smile adorning her face.

"What happened?" he asked. Raven just sighed.

"I'll explain later but we need to get Erza first," Raven said. She was hoping he'd just forget about it.

"Right," he said and tried to stand up before falling back down. Raven caught him.

"You've lost too much Magic. Please stay here while I go get her," she said.

"No, you can't go alone!" Gray argued.

"I need to! Erza needs my help. You just wait here for everyone else to come," Raven nearly pleaded. Gray was silent before finally sighing.

"Alright but please be safe," he said. She smiled at him.

"I will," she said before gently leaning him against the wall. She requiped a sword and gave it to Gray for protection. He graciously accepted it. Then Raven stood up. "Crap, which way do I go?"

"I can go one way," Gray offered. Raven just shook her head.

"I have a better idea," she said. A black Magic circle appeared under her and her eyes began to glow white as she called forward her astral projection. The black raven came out and flew down one hall. Raven was able to see everything her raven saw. What she saw shocked her. There were cages filled with girls ranging from around age ten to sixteen. She looked around, hoping to find Erza but she wasn't there. There was no one else there but those girls. She then got her raven to go search down the other hall. What she saw there managed to shock her even further. There was just one large room. It was covered in candles and in the centre was a pentagram. Inside the five points of the star sat five girls.

One of them was Erza.

That was all Raven saw before she called her raven back. Then she shot forward leaving Gray sitting there, confused. She quickly made her way to the room where she was once again surrounded by more members. It seems as though Ketsueki-juu was a cult.

"Erza!" she called. Erza's eyes widened as she saw her friend. Her mouth was gagged and her arms and legs were tied behind her. Raven could easily sense that her Magic energy was drained.

"Who are you?" a member asked. These members were wearing a dark green cloak. There was one member in the back, wearing a light green cloak. If Raven had to guess, she would say he was the leader.

"Let. My. Sister. Go!" she shouted. Finally, the light green cloaked member came forward. He laughed.

"We cannot do that. We need these girls as our sacrifices. Every day for a year, we need to sacrifice five girls for our Lord Zeref. We will summon him!" the man shouted. Raven clenched her fist. Zeref this, Zeref that. First Jellal and now these guys. Her eyes shone with fury.

"Screw Zeref!" she screamed. Raven was not one to curse but she couldn't hold it in. Then she heard several gasps.

"How dare you say that!? Kill her now! She doesn't even deserve to be a sacrifice," the man screeched.

" **Piercing Judgement Spears**!" she yelled. She had had enough. She just wanted Erza back. Her body exploded with black spears, covering the room with spears. Yet, she made her Magic attack only those she considered enemies, meaning the spears only attacked the cloaked members and not the little girls. Soon, once again, blood covered the walls and floor. Bodies fell to the ground. Raven didn't even stop to think about the people she had just killed. "Erza!" she screamed. She ran forward but was abruptly stopped when a blast of heat shot in front of her. Lava splashed onto the ground.

"You have ruined _everything!_ " the man shouted. It seemed as though the leader was able to avoid getting hit. Raven looked at the pentagram and saw that it was completely covered in blood.

"You don't go kidnapping little girls for your stupid cult rituals!" Raven shouted back.

"You're going to die now," he threatened. Then he lifted his hand, with a red Magic circle appearing. Lava shot forward in a stream towards Raven. She had no time to jump out of the way so she lifted her hand and stopped the lava in its tracks. But liquid was a lot harder to control that a solid object and so she let the lava fall to the floor. It immediately began to spread and burn through the floor. Raven cursed again and began to levitate, taking the five girls up with her. Then she summoned her raven soul and got it to engulf the girls in itself. The raven shot off towards Gray.

"Looks like it's just me and you now," Raven said with a smirk. In reality, she was stalling for time. When using her astral projection, the amount of Magic she could use was limited. She was able to levitate and requip but she couldn't perform much else. The leader of this group screamed in frustration. Lava exploded from his body, splashing everywhere and everything. Raven flew up and stuck to the ceiling, trying to avoid everything. Lava managed to strike her legs and she screamed in pain. Finally, her astral projection came back to her and she formed a black protective dome around herself.

"You can't hide in there forever. Maybe I should just go and get your red headed friend," the man smirked. Raven requiped a sword in hand and then opened a hole in her dome. She shot forward at the man.

"I promised to protect her!" she shouted and slashed at the man. She got a few good cuts in before the man countered.

" **Lavafall**!" he said. A red Magic circle appeared right above Raven. Lava began to pour out of it.

" **Force Block** ," she said, raising a black rectangular shield above her. Finally, she just threw her sword at the man, using her telekinesis to propel the sword even harder. It hit, sinking into his chest. It hit his heart. The man's hood fell off and he coughed up blood.

"…Raven… It's been…a while," he managed to croak out. Raven froze in confusion before she peered at the man.

"…Kai…?" she asked. The boy grinned before falling to the ground, dead. "WAIT WHAT!? You can't just die on me now!" she screamed. She needed an explanation! Suddenly, she felt light headed. She left Kai there as he was covered in lava and quickly retrieved her sword. She flew back to Gray before crashing to the ground. There were many thoughts flying through her head. Kai.

"Erza, are you alright," she asked quietly. Gray had taken care of the girls, going over to unlock the cells holding them. He had made sure they were all okay too.

"I'm alright… thank you…" she said. She began to tear up and then out right sob. Soon, all the other girls began to cry too. The older ones tried to cheer up the younger ones but Raven knew what to do.

"Everything's alright now," she said softly. Then she began to sing; Raven's Lullaby. She sung until her breath was coming out uneven. The girls had all quieted down and they were being lulled to sleep.

"I found them!" a voice shouted from the entrance above.

"Cana's here," Gray said gently. He too was being soothed by the song. He held the black haired girl in his arms as she fell asleep from using too much Magic energy as well as taking the toll from her injuries. Gray had eventually remembered everything he did to Raven when he wasn't in control and he felt terrible. Yet, here she was in his arms, not scared or upset. Erza watched the two with a smile on her face. Though she hated the fact that she had to share Raven with someone, she was happy Raven was able to rely on someone else.

Erza herself was drained of energy, both literally and mentally. She wanted to sleep but she couldn't burden anyone else, especially since there were so many other younger girls asleep who needed help. Erza sighed as she slowly stood up.

"Hey, don't worry about anything. We have you," Wakaba said to the girl who looked up at the teenager and then she smiled. Then she too, fell asleep on the floor.


	16. A Break

**Chapter Fifteen**

When Raven woke up, she found herself in the guild infirmary room. She sat up quickly and looked around.

"Erza…" she called quietly. She began to worry until a sheet was pulled back and showed that Erza was in the bed next to her, unconscious. She let out a sigh of relief and let her head drop back on the pillow. She turned her head on the pillow to see Makarov. He was the one who pulled back the sheet.

"Raven, how do you feel?" he asked kindly. Raven did a one over on her body.

"My legs are burning and itchy, my left arm feels like it's broken, and my stomach is killing. My body also feels super heavy and I'm pretty nauseous," she said observantly.

"That can all be explained. Your legs have patches of second degree burns on them, your arm isn't fully broken but fractured in a few areas, and your stomach is fine but bruised. The effect on your body is from using too much Magic energy. A few days of rest will fix that," Master Makarov explained. Raven nodded thoughtfully.

"So what happened to those girls?" Raven asked.

"You've been unconscious for two days now. The guild has personally gone out and found the families of each girl. If they had no family, they were placed in an orphanage," he said.

"How's… Erza," she whispered.

"Erza is fine. She's just sleeping. Like you and Gray, she's been drained of most of her Magic energy and so she's just feeling the effects of it," the master said.

"Where's Gray?" she asked. The master pointed to the bed on the right side of her and she turned to see a sheet in between the two beds. So Raven just nodded.

"Raven, we need to talk about… the members that you killed," Master Makarov said hesitantly. Raven's expression immediately darkened.

"I know it was wrong but I don't… regret it. I had to save Erza," Raven said looking at her hands.

"On some harder missions to come, you will have to take out enemies. It's a given. Whereas I don't want my younger children to have to kill, it is going to happen. But remember, your power is meant to protect your comrades. Don't go on the path of evil," Makarov said.

"I would never do that, I promise. I hated killing. I hated it so much," Raven said, her eyes watering. She continued speaking. "There was blood everywhere and I watched as the life left their eyes. One woman was dragged down somewhere! And I don't know what I did," Raven said. She was really crying and ranting now. Makarov sat there patiently, listening to what Raven had to say until she was done.

"But think of all the lives you ended up saving. All those girls who got to go back to their families. They left you these," Makarov said, holding out a bag filled with letters and little presents. Raven slowly took the bag from the master and looked inside. She sniffled.

"All for me?" she asked, surprised.

"I don't think you realized what you did for them. They were taken from their loved ones and were going to die themselves," Master Makarov. Raven immediately thought back to when she was taken away from her own parents. She had wanted someone to save her, so badly. And then she understood.

"You're right…" she said quietly. "Thank you, Master."

"Rest my child. You've done a great job," he said. Then he got up and went down. Raven began to sift through the pile and she found all sorts of letters, necklaces, and candies. She read each and every letter. Unbeknownst to her, Gray was awake and listening in to the whole thing. He lay back down and just digested the information. Raven really was amazing.

. . . . .

Two days had passed before both Erza and Raven were suitable enough to head out of the infirmary and back their house. Gray had already left the day before.

"Ready to go home?" Erza asked with a smile. Raven smiled back.

"You bet," she said. The two girls had spent the two days just talking about everything that had happened recently and how they felt. Raven felt a lot better after talking to Makarov and speaking to Erza was just the icing on top of the cake to make her feel back to normal.

Raven's arm was in a sling and she would walk with crutches for a few days, but other than that, she was feeling great. Porlyusica had taken care of the girl before promptly leaving, stating she hated humans. Erza helped Raven down the stairs, patiently walking behind her. As soon as they headed down the stairs, they were faced with the entire guild cheering at them. Raven was fearing this the most. She was afraid that everyone would look at her differently for killing but instead, they cheered her on.

"You're a hero!" Macao announced. Raven just smiled warmly and the guild she called her family. She loved them and they loved her back. She was still a bit uneasy but walked through the guild, receiving praise. She made it to the door and thanked everyone before heading home. Everyone could see she was a bit down and they just watched as the young girl hobbled away with Erza walking next to her, just as quiet.

"They're really out of it," Cana said, feeling sad for her friends.

"Maybe we should throw them a party or something?" Lisanna offered.

"I don't know, I don't think they're up for that," Levy pointed out. All the children sighed as they thought of nothing that could make their friends happy again.

"Let's beat the shit out of them!" Natsu cheered and ran out the door. Everyone watched him in shock before they realized what he said. Then they all ran after him to drag him back to the guild.

. . . . .

Erza and Raven were currently lying down in Erza's bed, just staring at the ceiling.

"I… I really thought I was going to lose you," Raven said, interrupting the silence.

"All I could think about was having to go back to those times. Being taken away from my family," Erza said quietly. The two girls were silent again, just thinking.

"I should've gone on that mission with you," Raven said, turning to look at Erza.

"No, I was weak. It wasn't you. I just need to train more," Erza said, still looking up.

"You are definitely not weak. I heard that you were protecting Gray and Cana," Raven said, turning her head to look back at the ceiling.

"I guess…" Erza said quietly. Then Raven began to tear up.

"Kai… the leader was Kai…" she said. Erza's eyes widened and she jerked up into a sitting position.

"What!?" she nearly shouted.

"I was just as surprised. I… I killed him…" Raven said, tears streaming down her face freely.

"You… you had to," Erza said slowly.

"I couldn't even ask him why he had done it. I couldn't ask him anything!" Raven said, sobbing.

"Hey, hey calm down. It's alright. It was his decision," Erza tried to console her, wrapping her in a hug. The two stayed like that for a while before they drifted off to sleep together.

. . . . .

The next morning, Raven quietly got out of the bed and went around packing items. She got food ready, watered her flowers and set a lacrima water with a timer that would water her plants when she was gone, and carried the one suitcase filled with her and Erza's things. Then she went upstairs and woke up Erza.

"Hey, Er-chan!" Raven said, excited. They needed something to cheer them up, and Raven knew exactly what to do. Erza rubbed her eyes and sat up with messy hair.

"What?" she mumbled.

"Get ready, I have a surprise!" Raven said cheerfully. Erza just groaned and got out of her bed to wash up. Once she was fully awake, she noticed some of her items were missing.

"What's happening?" Erza asked.

"We're going… on a vacation to the beach!" Raven cheered. Erza tilted her head and then looked to the door where a suitcase was sitting. Then Erza smiled.

"Alright, let's go then!" she said.

. . . . .

"Thanks for agreeing to stop by here," Raven said. They stood in front of Maria's house with the crystals Raven was going to give her and a bundle of flowers. They didn't have time to find a present but Raven knew Maria wouldn't mind. She rang the doorbell. They waited until Maria came by and opened the door.

"Oh Raven! It's great to see you again, come in! Who's your friend?" Maria said as she led them inside with a smile on her face.

"This is Erza Scarlet, my sister!" Raven said with a wide smile.

"It's nice to meet you," Erza greeted.

"Raven talks about you all the time! It's nice to finally meet you too," Maria said with a smile while Erza blushed. Then a lean man walked to the door.

"Who are these children?" he said, kissing Maria on the cheek.

"This is Raven, the little girl I was telling you about. And the older girl next to her is Erza," Maria introduced. Though Raven visited Maria a lot, she had never seen Maria's fiancé in person.

"Hello! We just came here to say a quick hello and drop these off for you Mar," Raven said, giving Maria a nickname and handing her the crystals and flowers.

"You really don't have to bring me presents," Maria said with a kind smile.

"Nonsense, you helped me out when I was in need of it. I can never thank you enough," Raven said with her own grin. Maria smiled and accepted the presents. They talked for half an hour before Raven excused herself and Erza, seeing as though they had to catch a train.

. . . . .

Seven hours later and they walked up to a very large building.

"Wait, Sunshine Resort!?" Erza asked, surprised. "I heard it's nearly impossible to get in!"

"Yup but you know those girls from the cult building, well one of them was the daughter of the owner and after I saved them, she left a letter that stated we were free to come here whenever we wanted and for however long we wanted as long as I only had two other friends with me or less. So I picked you of course! I thought maybe we should spend some time just relaxing," Raven explained.

"You really are the best," Erza said with a smile. Raven gave Erza a smirk.

"I know!" she giggled. Then the two walked in. The just paused and admired everything. The ceiling was several meters up high. It was made of pure glass, letting the suns ray's shine through. There were extravagant couches and paintings everywhere. Raven walked to the front desk and held out the letter that was signed by the owner's daughter. The person in the front immediately recognized that this was the person his boss was telling him about.

"Right, we'll have a suite ready for you in just a few minutes. Please feel free to look around while you wait. Shall I take your suitcase?" the man asked.

"Yes please," Raven said. The man called over a concierge who took their bags and gave them two key cards.

"Your room will be ready in fifteen minutes. You can head straight there when we are done," the concierge said.

"Thank you," Erza said and Raven nodded. Then they walked around the place.

"They have a water park! Let's go there as soon as we finish unpacking!" Raven said happily.

"Sounds good. Oh, how long are we staying for?" Erza asked.

"I was thinking around five days but we can stay for longer or leave earlier if we want," Raven said. Erza nodded.

"They have a cake shop!" Erza said in amazement. Her eyes began to sparkle.

"Why don't we head inside?" Raven said with a grin. Erza nodded her head vigorously and the two walked in. They were instantly surrounded by delicious looking cakes.

"I found it!" Erza shouted from one side of the store. Raven made her way over there and found the largest strawberry short cake she had ever seen.

"Uh… Erza-chan… I don't think we need the whole cake… Why don't we buy a smaller version?" Raven asked, sweat dropping.

"No, I want this one!" Erza whined like a child… well she was a child. Then Erza gave Raven the puppy-dog eyes, yes _the_ puppy eyes! Raven immediately melted.

"Alright, we can get it. I expect you to eat it," Raven said. Erza brightened up.

"Of course I will!"

. . . . .

The two girls entered their suite with a large box in hand.

"It's huge!" Raven said with her mouth wide open. Of course, as owners of their own house, the suite wasn't as big as that. But this was supposed to be an apartment situation and compared to their Fairy Hills room, this was a mansion.

"It has two bathrooms, two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room!" Erza shouted, running around the place.

"Let's get dressed and head to the water park now!" Raven said excitedly. The children ran to their rooms and got ready. They quickly unpacked the one suitcase and headed down to have some fun. They needed fun in their lives, or they'd never be happy.

They needed a vacation.

 **I just wanted to say a quick thank you to an anonymous guest (at least, I think they were anonymous) for pointing out that this chapter wasn't formatted properly for some weird reason. So thank you!**


	17. Killer Kicks

:P

Chapter Sixteen

Already four days had passed since Raven and Erza had been at Sunshine Resort. They did everything they could there. They went to the water park, the arcade, every single restaurant, and they saw the firework show just last night.

"Er-chan, what do you want to do today?" Raven asked as they ate their breakfast at the buffet downstairs.

"Do you want to go to the beach today? I heard that there was a really nice clear beach just a twenty minute walk away," Erza said.

"Ooh, sounds good. Let's carry some snacks too," Raven said. They had been saving up jewels for this vacation and since the resort was free, they could spend more money on food!

"Bring cake!" Erza shouted causing people to give them weird looks. Raven just laughed and nodded.

"How could I not?" she teasingly said. The two walked back to their room and brought a little knapsack out. They packed it with food and sunscreen before heading over to the beach.

They put their things down and set up a little area of their own. It was shaded by the trees and was close to the sea. Then they took off their outer clothes showing bathing suits. Erza had on a jade green bikini on and Raven had on a sky blue one piece on. They splashed each other and swam for a few hours. Then they heard music playing. They turned their head and found a large stage, that was previously empty before, covered in musical instruments and four musicians. There was a pianist, a drummer, a guitarist, and a singer. Raven was immediately attracted to the music and wandered over, Erza following behind. When the band was done, there were cheers all around, including Raven and Erza.

"Now, why don't we have one of the audience members come perform while we take a break!" the singer announced. Everyone looked around to see who would play except for Raven. She was standing there and shaking with excitement.

"I'll go!" she shouted.

"Well then, come up here little lady," the singer said.

"Good luck," Erza said with a chuckle.

"Thanks," Raven said with a wide grin before she headed up.

"Whatcha gonna be doing?" the guitarist asked.

"Actually, I know you're supposed to be taking a break but could you do me a small favour? I just need you to play something so it makes my performance even better for the audience," Raven explained. The four musicians looked at each other before grinning and nodding.

"Sure, this is why we play anyway. To make others happy," the drummer said. Raven grinned.

"Great!" she said.

. . . . .

Ten minutes later and she had shown the drummer which beat to keep and had shown the pianist and guitarist which few cords to repeatedly play. Then she requiped her own guitar out and grinned. Unfortunately, the singer had to sit out for this one but he didn't mind at all.

"Let's do this!" she shouted, grabbing the lacrima mic and grinning. She pointed at the pianist who began playing a tune and repeated that tune and the drummer who then started playing his beat. After a few bars, she pointed at the guitarist who started playing and she joined along singing.

~They say we are what we are  
But we don't have to be.  
I'm bad behavior but I do it in the best way.  
I'll be the watcher (watcher) of the eternal flame.  
I'll be the guard dog of all your fever dreams.

She started playing her own guitar, acoustically.

Oooooooh  
I am the sand in the bottom half of the hourglass (glass, glass)

Then she got pointed at the drummer who hit the drum harder for emphasis.

Oooooooh,  
I try to picture me without you but I can't

She then used a lacrima she had added on to make the guitar sound heavier (electric). Throughout the song, she pointed at the musicians, cuing them in for their parts.

'Cause we could be immortals, immortals  
Just not for long, for long.  
And live with me forever now,  
You pull the blackout curtains down  
Just not for long, for long.

We could be immooooooo- immortals,  
Immooooooo- immortals,  
Immooooooo- immortals,  
Immooooooo- immortals.

Sometimes the only pay-off for having any faith  
Is when it's tested again and again everyday.  
I'm still comparing your past to my future.  
It might be your wound but they're my sutures.

Oooooooh  
I am the sand in the bottom half of the hourglass (glass, glass)  
Oooooooh,  
I try to picture me without you but I can't

'Cause we could be immortals, immortals  
Just not for long, for long.  
And live with me forever now,  
You pull the blackout curtains down  
Just not for long, for long.

We could be immooooooo- immortals,  
Immooooooo- immortals,

Immortals,  
And live with me forever now,  
Pull the blackout curtains down,

We could be immortals, immortals  
Just not for long, for long.  
We could be immooooooo- immortals,  
Immooooooo- immortals,  
Immooooooo- immortals,  
Immooooooo- immortals,  
(Immortals)~

(watch?v=jBiQCZd8UII)

When Raven finished, the entire audience applauded and cheered. Raven smiled widely, out of breath. She was so proud!

"Woah, that was amazing. Where'd you learn how to play?" the singer asked, coming on the stage to praise the young girl.

"Self-taught… I really don't know. I guess its natural talent?" Raven said hesitantly. She didn't want to come off as bragging or anything.

"Wow, you really are something," the singer said.

"Thank you," Raven said with a blush.

"Well my name is Kevin Hawk and this our band is called the Killer Kicks. If you ever want to further your career in singing, come see me," Kevin said.

"I certainly will!" Raven said amazed at the offer.

"Now why don't you let us have a break and you play alone," Kevin said.

"Alright," Raven said, still just amazed at the events that had just taken place. The band left the stage and Raven decided to head over to the piano to play songs for everyone.

. . . . .

Half an hour had passed and Raven was out of breath but she was extremely happy. She had been singing the whole time and playing both the piano and the guitar. When she got off the stage, she was met with a ton of compliments and cheers. Then she finally reached Erza.

"That was amazing! I didn't know you knew how to play the piano though? And the way you played the guitar was amazing too!" Erza said.

"I'm not going to lie, I've never touched a piano before. But when I saw it… it was like it was calling to me and I just had to play something. I don't know how I did it but it felt amazing! We need a piano in the music room!" Raven said. Erza was both laughing and confused.

"You're just a musical genius then," Erza stated after thinking about it briefly.

"Well it's gotten pretty dark and as much as I'd like to listen to the Killer Kicks, we should head home. We have to pack and head to sleep early. Our train arrives early tomorrow," Raven said.

"I think that's a good idea. We can just relax for tonight. And we can come back any time," Erza said with a nod.

"Yes we can!" Raven said. They picked up their stuff and were about to head home when they were stopped.

"You two! Please, can I get an interview!" a girl nearly shouted at them. Raven looked at Erza who just shrugged.

"Uh, sure. What for?" Raven asked.

"It's you two! And after that performance! And just oh my! Please!" the girl kept shouting random things, never finishing her statement.

"Us two? You recognize us?" Erza asked.

"Yes! How could I not!? It's Titania and Yami no Kōgō! Queen of the Fairies and Empress of the Dark! You guys make up one of the strongest teams in Fairy Tail!" the girl squealed. Raven just looked at Erza again in confusion.

"Well I've heard those names before but I didn't know they were about us… uh…" Raven was at a loss for words.

"I don't even need to interview you! Can I just take a few pictures!?" the girl asked.

"Ok, calm down please. Deep breath. Now why don't you come to our suite and we can talk further?" Raven offered. The girl just squealed again causing Erza and Raven to sweat drop.

. . . . .

"So, April, now that you've calmed down, how about those pictures?" Raven asked, looking at Erza. They had agreed that they weren't entirely comfortable with an interview, considering their past and having information about them going around, so they decided to stick with the pictures.

"Yes, if it's not too much to ask, I'll have you posing for me," April said.

"Well, let's begin then," Erza said, requiping into different armors for April.

Twenty minutes later and the photos were done. April had squealed a total of seven times, Raven had counted. They waved at April who left with a last squeal. Then they began to pack their things.

"So… we're one of the strongest teams in Fairy Tail… and Titania and Yami no Kōgō?" Raven asked.

"And we'll only get stronger," Erza said with a grin.

"That's pretty amazing. I didn't know we had names," Raven said.

"We're pretty amazing," Erza said and they both laughed. After packing everything, they went down for dinner. And soon after dinner, they went to sleep.

. . . . .

The next day, they took the seven hour train and went home.

"It's nice to be back," Erza stated as they got off the train. They walked around until they reached their house. They washed, because seven hour train rides aren't fun, and unpacked all their things. Then they walked over to the guild.

"We're back!" Raven cheered as she kicked the doors open, her cast also gone from her arm. She looked healthy and cheerful. Erza just shook her head with a smile. The two were smiling as they went to go sit down and relax in their second home. Everyone watched with wide eyes as the two girls walked in. Then Gray stomped over.

"You guys disappear for five days without a word and now you come back with a simple we're back!? We were so worried!" he shouted. Everyone who had their eyes wide open now had their jaws open. They had never seen Gray so concerned over something. Raven tilted her head in confusion.

"Why? This isn't the first time we've been gone for a while? We went to a resort for a vacation," Raven explained.

"Yes but those have been for missions. You simply disappeared without telling anyone and after something very tragic had happened," Levy said gently, interrupting Gray before he could say anything.

"Ooh," Raven said in understanding.

"We're sorry," Erza said, also slightly ashamed. They both never thought about anyone else when they straight up left.

"We just wanted a break," Raven said with a pout. Gray sighed.

"Nice to have you back," Lisanna said with a smile.

"Why did Erza have to come back though?" Mirajane said with some spunk. Erza raised an eyebrow.

"You wanna fight!?" Erza threatened.

"Let's go," Mirajane said. Erza jumped up and punched Mirajane who retaliated with her own punch. This got Gray and Natsu pumped and they began to fight. Then the whole guild began to fight and Raven sat in the corner with Levy and laughed. Suddenly a blue cat flew over to Raven.

"Woah, what is this!?" Raven said, both amazed and confused. "A flying cat?"

"Oh, that's Happy. Remember that egg Natsu was carrying around? It hatched into this cat," Levy explained. The baby cat landed on Raven's head and she squealed.

"It's so cute!" Raven exclaimed taking the cat into her arms and cradling it.

"Aye!" the cat announced making Raven aw.

"I love Fairy Tail," Raven said with a chuckle. Suddenly she heard bells ringing and the entire ground began to shake.

"What's that?" Levy asked. Raven just laughed.

"Gildarts is home!" she said.

. . .

Truthfully, I'm not a fan of this story.


	18. Gildarts and Mystogan

:)

 **Chapter Seventeen**

"Hey everyone!" he announced, setting his bag down on a table.

"Gildarts, fight me!" Natsu shouted and charged at the older man. Gildarts simply conked Natsu on the head, causing him to fall to the ground unconscious.

"Gildarts!" Raven called as she ran to the man. He smiled and opened his arms for the young girl to jump into them. When Raven had first met Gildarts, they had instantly bonded and ever since, he treated her like she was his own daughter.

"Rae-chan!" he cooed. He was such a softy.

"How was your mission?" she asked.

"It went perfectly! Seems like Fairy Tail hasn't changed much… just has gotten rowdier," he chuckled.

"Take me on a mission with you!" Raven demanded. She wanted to go on one with Gildarts for so long.

"You know they're too dangerous," he said kindly. She pouted.

"How about when I become an S-Class mage like you," Raven said.

"Deal!" Gildarts said, his thought process being that she would only become one _many_ years later. He picked up his drink with one arm, holding the girl in his other. Cana watched from the distance with a strange look in her eye while Levy watched the two interact.

"Listen up brats!" Master Makarov announced. Everyone who had been partying at Gildarts arrival or just full out fighting stopped to stare at the tiny old man.

"Hey, Master," Gildarts said casually.

"Ah, Gildarts. Just in time for the annual S-Class Mage Promotion Trial!" Makarov shouted.

"Am I helping?" Gildarts asked, taking another sip of his beer.

"Not this year," Makarov said. "Once again, another year has passed and there have been many strong brats to come out this year. I am proud to announce that there will be five candidates this year!"

"I want to be an S-Class wizard!" Natsu shouted.

"Silence! The five mages I have picked are… Mirajane Strauss, Mystogan, Cana Alberona, Raven Harmonia, and Erza Scarlet!" the master announced. Gildarts spit out his drink before it became completely silent.

"Wait, they're all children!" someone shouted.

"Age does not determine skill," Master Makarov simply stated.

"My baby Rae-chan can't be an S-Class mage yet!" Gildarts cried with dramatic tears running down his face. Raven just laughed as she realized she could maybe finally go on a mission with Gildarts.

"The trials begin in one week! Arrive at the guild at night, nine o'clock to be more specific," the master announced before hoping off the railing and heading into his office.

"Nine at night? That's weird," Raven said. Gildarts had placed the little girl down next to him and was patting her on the head.

"My little girl is growing up," he said, teasing her. But she just smiled happily.

"Erza-chan! We're on our way to being S-Class mages!" Raven stated. Erza laughed.

"So it seems. But, there can only be one winner. So it seems as though we may fight again," Erza said. Raven just smiled at that. She was looking forward to fighting Erza seriously again. Well, there was a chance that they weren't going to fight too.

"Why do you think it's so late at night?" Raven asked.

"The first trial probably has to do with the darkness," Levy said, popping out from her corner.

"Ooh, I like the darkness," Raven said with a smile.

"Well, we should get to training," Erza said to Raven.

"Yea, but we should train separately for this week!" Raven said. Erza laughed at her enthusiasm and agreed.

. . . . .

A week had gone by and Raven had gone to both Macao and Gildarts on tips and advice on training and the trials. They were both willing to help and Raven learned quite a bit in the short time she had. She would leave her house early in the morning and come back late at night, greeting Erza and then heading straight off to bed because she was always so tired.

"Hey, Er-chan, let's go," Raven said to Erza. They were on their way to Fairy Tail for the trials.

"Are you ready?" Erza asked as they both walked out the house and locked up.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Raven said with a chuckle. The two girls laughed as they walked forward. Then everything went dark. "What the!" Then it went black.

. . . . .

Raven woke up with a headache. She held her head for a moment until the pain eventually subsided.

"Where am I?" she asked aloud. She looked around only to see tree upon tree. She was in a forest. Then she noticed a piece of paper next to her. Picking it up, she read it.

 _Dear Contestant,_

 _I sincerely apologize for knocking you out but this is just all part of the first trial! There should be a clock next to you. At exactly midnight, no sooner or later fore I will know, you will get up and search for a letter which will tell you where the second trial is taking place. There are only four letters out there._

 _Once again, the only rule is that you may_ not _leave your area until time is up. That is all._

 _Master_

Raven turned the letter around and it was blank.

"That's it!?" she exclaimed. Then she looked around for the clock. There was half an hour before midnight. She had been out for three hours! 'At least I still have half an hour left… and the letter only states that _I_ can't leave,' Raven thought with a smirk. Then she frowned. 'This is a bit… elaborate for a mere trial… Oh well. Fairy Tail will always be hectic,' she thought with a laugh.

A large black Magic circle appeared underneath her as she called out her astral projection. The large black raven flew up and then shot forward into the forest. Raven would've had the raven fly up higher but she didn't want anyone else to see what she was doing in case they got any ideas too. Surprisingly, it took a while before the raven could find anything. At first, her soul had accidentally stumbled upon Mystogan who stared at it curiously before she flew away. It had taken 45 minutes before Raven actually found a letter. It was stuck high up in a tree. Raven called back her raven and took a deep breath.

The raven had been out for 45 minutes which wasn't too long for Raven, but it still took up a lot of Magic. So, she decided to run to the letter. That way, she could conserve her energy for the next trial. It had taken twenty minutes to run to the tree. Then she tried to levitate up to the tree but it wouldn't work.

'A spell?' Raven thought. She wasn't sure but she shrugged and cracked her knuckles. The stretched a little before rubbing her hands together. Then she took a step back and ran towards the tree. Jumping up on it, she began to climb the tree. Reaching the top in around three minutes, she grabbed the letter and sat on a branch to read it. As she opened it, a compass fell out.

 _Congratulations on finding one of the letters. There should be a compass in your letter… if not, that means someone has stolen it. The next trial is an hour's walk north from here._

 _Good Luck!_

Raven debated whether to walk or levitate and decided on the latter. She didn't know if the second trial would start as soon as she got there or if everyone had to be there but it was better to be safer than sorry. And if she had to wait for everyone, she would be able to relax.

So a black aura surrounded her as she began to lift off of the ground. Staring at the compass, she saw that north was in front of her.

'Well no time like the present,' she thought and took off forward.

Ten minutes had passed and Raven began to see lights. Considering it was one in the morning, she welcomed the light because it meant she wouldn't be tripping over her own feet.

"Congratulations Raven! You are the second person to arrive!" the masters voice echoed.

"Wait, second?" she asked. She knew she took her time in getting her but she had used her raven to find the letter and that took a long while.

"Yes, it seems as though Mystogan was able to make it here fifteen minutes before you. He's over there," Master Makarov said, pointing to the corner. Raven looked over and spotted Mystogan so she decided to go sit down next to him.

"Hello," she said. She knew that he talked to _no one_ at all. The only reason he was even at the guild was to become an S-Class Mage. He, of course, said nothing. But Raven didn't mind. So she sat there with him for another half an hour until the other two contestants had made it. Erza ran by first closely followed by Mirajane.

"Hah, beat you, like usual," Erza said to Mira.

"I _let_ you beat me, of course," Mirajane said. The two began to fight before Master interrupted them.

"Quit it! Now, all four of you are here. I have gotten someone to take Cana out of the forest. The second trial will begin now!" he said. I got up to stand by Mira and Erza with Mystogan getting up too. We stood in a line and waited for him to say what the second trial was.

"Wait, wait before we begin. Master, was it necessary to knock us out," Raven said with a raised eyebrow. The master grinned sneakily.

"The reason we did that was to move you to a place you guys wouldn't recognize for the second trial. Gildarts helped me move you all. Now, the second trial will take place in this cave. This year, you _must_ get through the mountain to pass," Makarov said, pointedly looking at Raven. Said girl just whistled and looked away as if she had no idea about what he was talking about.

"There are four routes to take and each route will intercept with another where you will fight another participant before you are allowed to pass. Now, get going!" the master announced. The four children immediately sprang into action and shot towards the cave. The routes were labeled 1-4. Raven shrugged and decided to pick route 3. She walked forward and then heard a noise. Turning around, she saw that the cave entranced had been closed off by a Magic rune wall. She walked forward, deciding what she would do when she first saw her opponent. Attack or wait? Then she spotted her opponent waiting for her.

"Mystogan," she said. He stood there silently. Raven just shrugged. If they weren't going to talk, they were going to fight.

" **Piercing Spear** ," Raven said. A single black spike shot forward and hit Mystogan. But it went right through his body. "What?"

" **Mist Body** ," Mystogan said quietly. Too quiet for Raven to really hear. He disappeared and appeared a few meters behind her. Then he aimed a kick at her head which she swiftly blocked with her arm. She turned around and sent a punch towards his gut before jumping away.

" **Shadow Rain** ," Raven shouted causing a dark purple Magic circle to appear above Mystogan. She had come up with the idea after fighting Kai who had used lava in a waterfall. Dark purple blobs shot forward with a few hitting him on the arms as he attempted to sidestep and dodge it. They made a sizzling noise as they ended up sinking into his skin. First, it gave off the feeling of burning him before it ended up giving off the feeling of freezing his skin without actually doing either.

" **Three Layered Magic Circle: Imperial Outbreak** ," he said. His three Magic staves floated in a circle and began to spin. Three Magic circles appeared in front of the staves before a large blast of energy was shot at Raven.

" **Force Block** ," she said, conjuring up her black shield. The attack was blocked but it had taken a lot of Magic for her to use and protect such a strong attack.

" **Dark Spears** ," she announced, shooting several dark spikes at Mystogan.

" **Three Layered Magic Circle: Mirror Water** ," he said. A similar thing happened with his imperial outbreak attack but instead of a blast coming towards Raven, her own attack shot back at her.

"Shit, **Force Block** ," she said, he black shield appearing again. It managed to block most of her own attack but her Magic power was running low and her own attack ended up cracking her shield before two spears hit her in the leg. She screamed out loud because this was the attack that ended up aiming for the nerves themselves and causing pain. Mystogan ran towards her as she laid on the ground and aimed to hit her with his main stave. Raven quickly rolled away and managed to wobble back on her feet, the pain already fading. She requiped her sword, to try and save Magic, and attacked him.

They had an all-out battle with their weapons until Raven was able to overtake him and he flew into the wall, his bandana ripping off. His silver forehead protector came loose and showed his hair. Raven froze completely.

"… _Jellal!_ " she managed to whisper out.

"Wait!" he said. They both weren't able to leave until one side lost. "I surrender," he said. The runes on the entrance opened up and he leapt forward to escape. Raven snapped out of her reverie.

"Oh no you don't!" she shouted, using her telekinesis to hold him in place. "You're going to explain everything!" she screamed at him. She was visibly shaking, both in fear and anger, but she kept her hold on him. Jellal sighed.

"Ok, I will. You can put me down, I won't run," he said, knowing he couldn't get away.

"Fine but if you even try to get away…" she left the threat open and set him down.

"Hear me out before you act, ok? My real name is Jellal but… I am not the Jellal of this world," he said. Raven stood there with her mouth open.

"What?"


	19. S-Class?

;)

Chapter Eighteen

"It's a long story but I am from the world known as Edolas. I ran away a little less than a year ago after learning that my world was stealing Magic energy, also known as Etherion, and came here to Earth Land to help stop it from happening," Mystogan explained.

"And you just happen to look exactly like the Jellal from our world?" Raven asked suspiciously. Mystogan sighed.

"It's a bit complicated but the worlds are knows as Parallel Worlds. This means that our worlds are quite similar with a few differences. For explain, here, Magic is within people; it's internal as well as external and quite abundant. In my world, Magic is quite scarce and not internal," Mystogan explained.

"So this is why you're so mysterious…" Raven mused, her anger diminished.

"Please don't tell anyone. Master already knows though. I was really hoping to hide this from everyone, especially you and Erza… I know what happened at the Tower of Heaven and so…" Mystogan trailed off.

"I understand. I won't tell anyone. You may be Jellal in appearance but I know you two are different on the inside," Raven said.

"As much as I'd like to talk, you still need to move onto the last trial," Mystogan stated. Raven frowned.

"Can we…can we please talk more? I have so many questions," Raven asked quietly. Mystogan simply smiled.

"Sure, it'd be nice to have someone to talk to now," he said kindly. Raven smiled as she left Mystogan there to cover his face up again before walking out the cave entrance. Raven pushed the second Jellal from her mind. She had to worry about the trials first and Mystogan wasn't a problem at the moment.

"Two have passed! We will have one final battle between the finalists in an hour!" Makarov announced. Raven looked over to see who had also won. Mira or Erza? Then she grinned.

"Er-chan! It seems like we'll be fighting again," Raven said with a smirk.

"It seems so. I'll be winning this time," Erza said confidently.

"I don't think so! Let's go eat first… do we eat breakfast? Or a second dinner?" Raven asked.

"Oh yea, it is like one in the morning," Mira said, walking over. She looked much more bruised than Erza but looked like was still able to fight. So strong.

"I'm just going to have something light," Erza said. Raven nodded.

"Good idea," she said. Then they saw Mystogan walk over and sit down as far as the tables let him. Gildarts also walked by, Cana with him. She was staring at the ground.

"Hey, Cana. Maybe next time," Raven said sympathetically. Said girl looked up startled.

"What, oh uh yea…" she said and went to go sit down with them as they ate some fruit.

An hour had passed and both girls were both getting really pumped for their fight. They stretched and smiled.

"Alright brats, get on the field," Master Makarov said. The two girls walked onto the field, which was more like a large dirt area. There was no grass or greenery. The audience consisted of just Cana, Mira, Mystogan, and Gildarts. Makarov stood in between the girls.

"One of us is leaving as an S-Class mage," Erza said.

"And it's going to be me," Raven said.

"Begin!" Master Makarov said. The two girls immediately shot forward.

" **Requip: Black Wing Armor**!" Erza said, her armor turning into a black suit with wings on the back. Her speed increased as she reached Raven. Raven simply smiled.

" **Soul Swords** ," Raven said. Two black blades grew from Raven's hands. There was no handles as it they basically connected to Raven's closed fists. The two then clashed weapons.

Raven's soul swords were quite special. They were made from the same thing her astral projection was made of and because of this, the swords were connected to Raven. They knew what she wanted to do and were easier to use then regular swords. She was also able to change their shape and length, which is what she did.

As the three swords clashed against each other, Raven elongated her one swords, managing to cut Erza on the cheek. Luckily for Erza, she had noticed it and jumped back just in time for it to not do too much damage.

"You've been training, I see," Erza said.

"That's not all I got," Raven said with a smile. " **Shadow Rain**."

Above Erza, the same dark purple Magic circle that appeared above Mystogan appeared over Erza. Then it rained. Erza tried to use her sword to cut the rain away but the shadow blobs simply were divided in half and still kept falling. The same burning then freezing affect hit Erza directly and she fell to the ground with a scream before rolling out of the rain. Taking a deep breath, she didn't have much time to move out of the way before a streak of black came at her. Standing up, she looked over to see Raven standing there with her arms crossed.

"Is that all you got?" she asked Erza. The red haired girl raised an eyebrow.

"I was just warming up. **Requip:** **Robe of Yūen** ," Erza requiped. Raven had never seen this armor before… Well, it was more an outfit than armor. She was wary of the outfit, but attacked anyway.

" **Piercing Spears** ," Raven shouted. Several black spears were shot at Erza who ended up _dodging_ the spears. One managed to clip her on the arm, but Erza didn't let that deter her. She kept moving forward and reached Raven with her sword, allowing herself to use her full power and slash at Raven. The black haired girl cursed as she used her soul swords to perform her shield cut. She was fast enough to block it but not well enough, causing her to fly backwards. She landed on her back before sliding and flipping over to land on her feet.

"Much better," Raven said with a grin. She knew she could easily beat Erza. She could simply use her telekinesis to halt Erza's movement and don't get her started on her astral projection. Yet, she wanted to have fun too.

Then she began to glow black and floated into the air. Then she placed her hands in front with the palms facing each other. Two black Magic circles appeared as black lightning began to spark. "I recently learnt that you can create lightning with the right electrical charge if you rub your Magic the right way," Raven said. " **Black Lightning!** " Then a flash of black was seen as a bolt of black shot towards Erza. It hit directly and said girl shouted in pain.

As Erza lay on the ground in pain, Raven didn't waste that moment to use her telekinesis. Her hands turned black and the ground under Erza also turned black. Then two strips of earth rose up and wrapped around Erza, binding her. Raven flew forward, her cloak still on and flapping in the wind behind her, and requiped a sword. She held the sword at Erza's neck and smirked.

"I think that's another victory for me," Raven said. Erza sighed before smiling.

"I'll get stronger than you, just you wait," she said.

"I'll be waiting for that day," Raven said with a grin.

"Winner is Raven Harmonia!" the master announced. The two girls at the sideline begin cheering loudly while Gildarts stood there smiling fondly. Mystogan was quiet but he was secretly smiling. Raven helped Erza up and got a glimpse of the black crystal around her neck.

"Sisters forever," Raven said and took Erza in a hug. Erza noticed Raven looking at the necklace and spotted the red one around Raven's neck before she smiled and hugged Raven back.

"I love you," she said sweetly. Then everyone ran towards them.

"That was amazing!" Cana cheered. She was incredibly upset that she didn't win but after seeing that battle, she knew she couldn't have. Next year maybe.

"I'll beat you next time," Mirajane said to Erza with a smirk on her face. Then she faced Raven. "You'll fight me after Erza."

"Try it," Erza threatened while Raven just laughed with a sweat drop. She didn't really want to fight the she-devil. But Raven was really happy. She had done it!

"So, when are we going on that mission?" Raven asked cheekily, talking to Gildarts. Said man just groaned.

"I'm tired from my last one. I'll tell you when we're leaving," he said with a pout.

"Perfect," Raven said with a giggle.

"Well, I'd like to go to sleep now," Mirajane said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Let's go home, Er-chan," Raven said. They helped each other walk home.

"Man, she's only what, eleven… twelve? Imagine when she's older," Gildarts said. It was just him and Makarov and they were standing there watching the kids head home.

"All of them really. We have some really strong brats, huh," the master said with a smile.

"And now I have to take her on a mission!" Gildarts said exasperated. Makarov chuckled before freezing and frowning.

"I just realized Raven never took off her cloak," he said.

"Um, so?" Gildarts asked, confused. Makarov just sighed at the realization.

"Her power is cut in half. Well more like half of it is suppressed until she takes it off," he said.

"Oh… She'll probably be like me when she grows up! Destroying stuff everywhere she goes," Gildarts said jokingly but the master knew that may very well come true.

"I can't wait for when you're the guild master," Makarov muttered.

"Wait, what?" Gildarts shouted.

"Oh, nothing," Master Makarov said with a laugh and began to walk home. Gildarts just sighed and shook his head. Fairy Tail will be the death of him.

. . . . .

It had been a few days since Raven became an S-Class mage and word quickly spread like wildfire. It wasn't just in the guild either but in other guilds as well as in a few magazines. Apparently S-Class wizards were a big thing. Yet, Raven didn't feel much different and the happy feeling of winning soon faded off until she felt normal once again. Everything between her and Erza also went back to normal and they trained in the same area, often sparring.

Raven and Erza were currently at the guild, relaxing. They had just come back from a lengthy mission that gave them quite a high pay. Erza was fighting Mirajane while Raven was sitting down and reading a book on Magic. It was known as _empathy_ and Raven found it quite interesting.

"Hey, someone wanted to give this to you?" Lisanna said, running over and interrupting Raven's reading. Raven picked up the letter confused.

"Me? That's oddly suspicious," Raven said. She opened up the letter and read it.

 _Come meet me in the forest. You wanted to ask me some questions._

 _M._

"What's it say?" the young white haired girl ask.

"Oh, uh, nothing. I, um, gotta go," Raven said. She had realized it was from Mystogan. "Erza! I'll see you soon. I need to do some… things," Raven shouted at the girl who was too busy fighting to really process what she said.

"Sure, yea, I'll see you," Erza said, punching Mira into the wall. Raven just laughed and then left, requiping her book. With her soul swords and spear attacks, she didn't really need to requip many swords to she had a ton of space. So she decided to put all her clothes in the storage space as well as some other things such as her guitar (she has two), a few books that she switched out often after she had read them, and a few excessive things she used when camping such as a tent. It was so useful.

She left the guild and made her way to the forest. On one hand she was nervous, but on the other, she was excited. Mystogan was such a mystery! She entered the forest and walked quite a bit of a way in before she spotted said boy.

"Hey," she said with a smile.

"Hello," he said. It was quiet as she sat next to him on the grass.

"Are you going to take that off? It must be hard to breath. I know I wouldn't be able to stand wearing that all the time. I mean, I can barely stand my hood being on for too long," Raven said with a chuckle. Mystogan looked at her.

"You won't get… uncomfortable?" he asked curiously.

"I've said before, you're appearance may be his but your personality isn't. I'll get used to it in a bit," she said with a shrug.

"Then do you think we could move somewhere else more… secluded I guess. I don't want anyone to see me," he asked quietly.

"Yea sure," she said.

. . . . .

An hour later and the two had made their way very far into the forest. They saw a large tree and decided to sit at the top of it. Raven swung her legs as she sat on the branch and observed Mystogan.

"You two really are the same," she said. "Should I call you Jellal or Mystogan?"

"Mystogan would be better," he said, staring at the sky. Raven turned her head to look at the sky too.

"So, Mystogan, what's Edolas like?" Raven asked. Mystogan turned to look at her and smiled.

"It was my home and I loved it," he said.

And so they spent the next three hours just talking about themselves. Raven learnt all about Edolas Jellal and he ended up hearing her story of the Tower of Heaven.

"Where are you staying?" Raven asked after they had hopped down from the tree.

"I've got a place," he said. Raven nodded, already used to his vague answers.

"If anyone asks, can I tell them I've been with you?" Raven asked curiously. She definitely wasn't out to brag about being friends with the illusive Mystogan but she didn't like to lie.

"I don't see why not," he said with a smirk. Raven laughed as she watched him put his bandana back on.

"I'm not going to yell it to the world, you know," she said.

"I believe you," he said with his own laugh. Mystogan walked Raven to the guild.

"Well, I hope to see you soon," she said. She really had enjoyed his company.

"We'll meet up again," he reassured her. Then they waved goodbye and Raven went back into the guild. Surprisingly, there wasn't a fight going on. She spotted Erza eating some cake, of course, and went to go sit next to her.

"Hey, Er-chan," she said happily.

"Where have you been," Erza said, munching on her cake.

"I was just hanging with a friend," Raven said.

"Oh, what's their name?" Erza asked, really focusing more on the cake than Raven.

"…Mystogan," Raven finally said, debating whether or not to tell Erza. If she ever discovered his identity, she might be mad. But then again, he wasn't actually the Jellal they knew and he _had_ asked her to keep his identity a secret. Erza choked on her cake.

"What? I didn't know you two were friends," Erza said.

"Yea but we talked during our fight at the S-Class trials and he was really nice," she said.

"Huh, I wonder if he'll ever interact with any of us from the guild," Erza said, curious about the boy.

"Yea, me too," Raven said. The two girls sat there quietly, both lost in their own thoughts when Raven was approached by someone.

"Well, Rae-chan, it's finally time to go on that mission with me," Gildarts said, holding out a piece of paper.

"An S-Class job already!?" Raven said, excited.

"Yup, get packing. We leave tomorrow."


	20. The Diseased Town

_Lmao kill me._

 **Chapter Nineteen**

"I'll see you Er-chan," Raven said, hugging her tightly.

"Be safe," Erza said with a smile. "And come back home in one piece."

"You bet," Raven said with a laugh. Then she went around the guild saying goodbye to everyone. The last person she said goodbye to was Gray.

"I'll be back in no time," Raven said cheerfully. Gray looked at the ground, upset.

"I guess… come back soon," he said, refusing to look her in the face. She chuckled before hugging him.

"I will," she said softly. He blushed intensely before muttering whatever. Raven just laughed at him before Gildarts and she left the guild.

"I can't believe we'll be gone for a month or two! How do you do this all the time?" Raven asked as they walked to the train.

"I normally take long breaks after each job until I'm tired of the guild and want to go on a job. Then I pick a long one and don't come back until it's complete," Gildarts replied.

"Hmm, so I've been meaning to ask… Will you also train me while we're away?" Raven asked shyly. Gildarts looked down at the young girl as they walked towards the train. He also took notice of the way she didn't use her puppy eyes. She wanted him to genuinely teach her. He chuckled.

"Why not."

. . . . .

It had been three weeks as the pair had finally made their way to their destination. Along the way, Gildarts decided to stop taking the train as often and walk so he could train Raven. They were officially not in Fiore but in Bosco. Luckily to pass the borders, they just needed to flash the guards their Fairy Tail insignia and show the guards the job request.

"So, what does our job want us to do?" Raven asked curiously. She had briefly read over the paper but that was it.

"As we already know, the country of Bosco possesses a city named Lebar and the whole city is struggling with an unknown Magical issue. It could be a disease or a monster. We don't know much about it except for the fact that it normally takes a whole month of living there for the person to be affected and thus, we need to accomplish the mission before a month is up. Our job is mainly to figure out what the problem is. If possible, they're willing to pay us even more if we can solve the issue to," Gildarts explained.

"Sounds plausible," Raven said, munching on some marshmallows. She seriously loved marshmallows. Anything sweet really. "I can also see why we'd be gone for so long with the traveling and all."

"Well let's hope we can accomplish this job," Gildarts said.

. . . . .

The two strolled into the town that the so called Magic 'issue' began in. As soon as they walked in though, a man stumbled over. But the way he came over was beyond creepy. He had basically _crawled_ over. His complexion was a sickly green colour and all over his skin were opened pores that leaked a strange yellow liquid. He looked _terrible_.

"G…get a-away! Get… AWAY… WHILE YOU CAN!" he screamed at the two, breathing heavily. Then he collapsed on the ground.

"Shit…" Raven breathed out.

"Language young lady," Gildarts scolded.

"I don't think we have time to be worried about my language when _this_ ," Raven pointed to the man on the ground, "is happening to the people of Lebar."

Gildarts rolled his eyes as he approached the man cautiously. He wasn't sure what was happening but if the man was dangerous, he didn't want him hurting Raven. Not only that, but that certainly looked like a disease and it also looked like it could spread to them pretty easily.

"We should ask around as soon as possible," Raven suggested, watching as Gildarts checked the man's pulse. He got up with a sigh.

"The man's dead… Let's go give him a proper burial and ask around," he said, nodding at Raven's idea.

They walked around the town and noticed that no one was outside. Finally finding a cemetery, they laid the man to rest there deciding it would actually be best not to bury him just yet. Then they returned back to the heart of the town.

"I found a map while we were walking. It was in a trash I was sifting through," Raven said, pulling out the piece of paper. Gildarts stared at the girl.

"Why… why were you looking through trash?" he muttered before taking the map from her, shaking his head.

"It appears that the western side of Lebar is surrounded by a forest while the southern side is a harbor, leading to a large ocean," Raven said, remembering what she had seen on the map.

"It's a fairly secluded area," Gildarts agreed.

"Perfect for any secretive or illegal activity going around," Raven put out there.

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Gildarts chuckled. Raven pouted.

"I know, it was just an idea," she said.

. . . . .

An hour later and they had already gone to several doors, knocking and waiting for people to answer. They were only able to get four people to open their doors but it didn't matter much as they all answered the same thing for each question asked.

"How long ago did this start?"

" _Three months ago._ "

"Why didn't you leave?"

" _Once you enter this place, you won't be able to leave_."

"Did anything strange or unusual happen three months ago?"

" _Not that I remember but the forest became noisier before all noise ceased to exist, including the animals that used to make noise._ "

"What are the symptoms?"

" _First, your body begins severely itching. Then it turns a nauseating hue of green. Last of all, the skin cracks and pores show before opening up and oozing."_

"Have you called in any other guilds for this and if you have, what were their results?"

" _We called in a few but you are the second to come. The first one sent one person a month ago but he… died."_

Gildarts and Raven thanked the last person they managed to see before walking around the town again, trying to find anything they may have overlooked. While they walked and observed, Raven tried to think.

"If it was something that effected the person after a month of living in that general area then it could be a local disease… but what would be the cause of the disease…? … And if they wrote on the request that it was a Magical issue… how do they know that in the first place…? What if it wasn't a disease? The forest was mentioned a few times… awfully suspicious… Maybe that was the cause…?" Raven mused to herself. She wasn't talking to Gildarts, but thinking aloud. Yet, he was listening in to everything she said, quite proud of her thought process. Deciding he should let her take charge, he questioned her.

"What do you think we should do next?" he asked, sounding as if he had no clue.

"I think it would be best to check out the forest. Not only that, but each resident said they _couldn't_ leave the town, no matter how hard they tried. We should check the entrance of the town too," Raven said. Gildarts smiled, once again delighted that she had caught the detail.

"Where to first?" he asked.

"The town entrance is closest, so let's go there first… if that's alright with you," she said, realizing that she had been the only one inputting her thoughts.

"Good idea," he said with a chuckle.

The pair made their way to the town gates. When they arrived, they noticed nothing unusual about it. They looked around cautiously to see if anyone would pop out and injure them or if there was some sort of trap preventing them from leaving.

"I don't see anything wrong?" Raven said, walking closer to the gate. Gildarts was also slightly confused, seeing nothing wrong. Why couldn't the towns' people leave? "Maybe they were over exaggerating and this is a dead end?" she put out there.

"Hold on, you can't be too quick to assume," Gildarts said. He walked towards the gates and then attempted to walk through the gates before bumping into a clear wall. This caused Raven to raise an eyebrow and try to walk out too.

"Wow, weird," she said. As soon as she said that, the invisible wall soon came to life, covered in runes.

"A rune barrier, huh," Gildarts said.

"Can you read it?" Raven asked curiously. Gildarts laughed while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Just a few words… something about… uh, stepping in… and uh can't go…" he muttered.

"So once you step inside the town, you can't leave," Raven said.

"Right, yea… That's what it said," Gildarts said.

"Hmm, let me try something," she replied. Using her Magic, she began to levitate. The lifted higher and higher until she was satisfied before trying to leave the town. She crashed into the barrier.

"Raven, be careful!" Gildarts shouted to the girl above.

"I'll be fine. If anything, you can catch me," Raven said nonchalantly. Gildarts just sighed at her lack of fear. Raven will be Raven. The girl floated down and landed next to Gildarts.

"Well, it appears the towns' people were right," he said.

"Yea, but that also means we can't leave until the rune is taken down or we find the guy who put it up," Raven said.

"Forest?" Gildarts asked.

"Actually, I think we should head to sleep. Tomorrow, we can go bright and early," Raven said, noting the setting sun.

"Good idea," Gildarts said, proud at her sensibility.

The two found an inn and crashed together, Raven on the couch while Gildarts got the bed. Though they didn't really trust the food, they needed to eat something so they ended up buying a bit of store food from the people willing to talk to them.

. . . . .

The next morning, they woke bright and early to head to the forest. Packing a bag of food, they decided it would be best to just walk instead of having Raven fly above so she could conserve Magic in case anything happened. Raven didn't mind because it meant she could spend more time with Gildarts.

"Do you think we'll find anything?" Raven asked as they stood in front of the forest.

"Let's hope so," he said. Then they took their first few steps into the forest.

Walking for around ten minutes, they noticed nothing out of the unordinary. The trees all looked healthy and green. But, after another few moments of walking, the duo began to notice some oddities. A dead tree here or there. Some trees that didn't have the healthy sheen to it. An empty birds' nest…

"That's what they were talking about! There's a birds nest but there's no birds. The forest is eerily silent," Raven said. Gildarts nodded, having taken notice of it already.

"The forest is slowly dying out too," Gildarts mentioned. The two continued walking and with just another ten minutes of walking, they soon noticed that almost _all_ the trees were dead. Soon even the trees themselves began disappearing. The last fifteen minutes of their walk showed a complete barren wasteland. There was nothing in sight except for earth and dust.

"And you're telling me no one found this strange enough to tell us?" Raven said in disbelief.

"I agree. We've been walking for less than an hour," Gildarts added.

"Well, I think we should continue to walk forward," Raven said. He nodded in agreement and they walked on.

Only two hours later did they find anything.

"Now I know why no one said anything. They probably gave up walking after so long of just seeing the same old dirt," Raven said. She had also been getting frustrated with the walk.

"At least we have results," Gildarts said, walking forward. The two observed the large building in front of them. Right next to the building was a river… or what used to be a river. Instead, there was a lack of water and an abundance of a murky green liquid that flowed too thickly to be water. There were larger and thicker globs that stuck to the side of the river too.

"I think this is what caused the towns' problem," Raven said, stating the obvious.

"Perhaps we'll find that rune mage guy in here too," Gildarts said as they slowly opened the doors and entered the building… well Raven was slowly opening the doors. Gildarts just outright walked in like he owned the place. Raven scampered along behind him.

They were in what looked like a lobby. In stark comparison to the outside wastelands, the inside was white, prim, and pristine. Then they heard footsteps upon the marbled floor. The two turned to see a man in a white suit, wearing a white hat. He was quite old with white hair and amber eyes.

"Hello, my name is Fredrick Koori and I'm the owner of this factory. What can I do for you?" he asked in an overly friendly tone.

"We're here to learn of the strange 'disease' that's been going around this town," Gildarts said. He was tense and on guard. Something about this man in front of him brought out a sense of suspicion.

"Oh that. I'm afraid to say that the disease is in fact the by-product of our production line," the old man said with a cheerful smirk.


	21. Life Lacrimas

**Chapter Twenty**

"Well then… That was easy," Raven muttered. Gildarts whacked her on the back of her head.

"Focus," he said. She glared at him from the corner of her eyes.

"Care to explain?" Raven asked the old man, Fredrick, in front of them. He just smirked and began to speak. Of course a prideful man like him would want to brag.

"Our product is going to be world changing! We are providing _life lacrimas_ ," Fredrick said.

"Life lacrimas?" Gildarts asked with a frown on his face.

"Life lacrimas! They prolong a person life for an extra year! Of course, it can't bring back people from the dead and give them another year," the old man said. Raven raised an eyebrow.

"How is that possible…?" she asked.

"With Magic! A type of wonderful lost Magic known as life transfer Magic," the man jabbered on.

"Not just a lost Magic but a forbidden one too," Gildarts said seriously.

"Lost, forbidden, same thing. It's a wonderful thing and I don't see what the problem is," Fredrick said.

"The _problem_ is that the world is made in balance," Gildarts started off saying. He trailed off but Raven was able to pick up where he left off.

"Balance…" she murmured confused. Then she figured it out. "You're exchanging the lives of these poor people and the environment around here for your stupid money!?" she shouted angrily.

"Rae, calm down," Gildarts said to her quietly. He was furious too but one slip up could get them killed. This wasn't an S-Class job for nothing. The last mage who came here was apparently killed but no one specified whether it was from the disease… or something else.

"Sorry," she muttered, taking a deep breath to calm herself. She knew he was right and she was quite ashamed of her outburst though she didn't regret it one bit.

The old man in front of them chuckled. "I know I'm a dirty old man but money is money and I'll do anything to make me some good money," he said.

"Shut. Your. Factory. Down," Raven said. She was in control now. No more outbursts.

"Like hell I will," Fredrick stated. Then with a snap of his fingers, they were surrounded by seven people.

"I guess we'll just have to make you," Gildarts said. He couldn't go all out otherwise he might end up hurting Raven but that was ok; he didn't need to use his full strength.

"I'll hold them down, you knock them out?" Raven suggested. If she didn't need to kill anyone, she wouldn't.

"And how are you going to hold them down?" Gildarts asked with a chuckle, not in the least bit worried about his opponents. Gildarts could tell they were low leveled mages.

"Like this," Raven said with a grin. She raised her hands that had begun to glow black. " **Bind** ," she said. Black strips of Magic shot at the seven mages who were too slow to jump out of the way or defend. Immediately, their arms were trapped close to their bodies and a black matter was wrapped tightly around them.

"I'm impressed. Didn't know you can do it on so many people," Gildarts said as he took care of knocking each one of them out.

"I really don't know how many people I _can_ do it on," Raven said with a shrug. They tied the unconscious mages and placed them in a corner before heading off to where they saw Fredrick go.

"What to do? Go after Fredrick or destroy the factory?" Gildarts asked out loud.

"I think we all know you can destroy this factory in less than a second," Raven said with a laugh as they walked through the halls, looking for anything that would reveal where Fredrick had gone.

"I wouldn't dare to try with you here," Gildarts said. Raven laughed airily.

"That's nice to know," she said.

"I've been meaning to ask, how old are you?" Gildarts asked after a moment of comfortable silence.

"I turned thirteen a few months ago," Raven answered. Gildarts hmm'd as they finally found a door that led to a large office.

"This looks like it," Gildarts said, striding right in.

"Wait, at least observe the place first!" Raven tried to say but he just kept walking. She rolled her eyes and followed along behind him.

"Ah, found you," Gildarts said as he pulled the desk away that revealed Fredrick cowering. He lifted the man up by the back of his shirt with one arm.

"Shut down your business," Raven said once more. Fredrick looked at her with fear in his eyes.

"O-ok, just put me down and I'll go push the button. I can't run anyway," he said. Gildarts and Raven made quick eye contact before Gildarts put the man down. The man got up and slowly walked to the wall before he turned around and grinned at them. "Just kidding."

"WH-what!?" Raven said. She ran forward to grab the man but bumped right into an invisible wall. Then runes appeared and the two Fairy Tail wizards saw that they were trapped in a box. They looked away from the runes to look at the old man across the room from them who was laughing hysterically.

"There's only one way to get out. Give me a good fight until one of you can't fight or _dies_ ," Fredrick cackled. The duo inside froze. They both didn't want to harm the other. Raven also knew she had no chance of fighting Gildarts while Gildarts knew he could never even _try_ to touch a hair on the little girl he treated like a daughter.

"I… can't Raven," he said. It wasn't a play fight or a fight where Raven was trying to best him and Gildarts was teaching her at the same time. The little girl turned to look at him. Then she did the last thing he expected. She smiled.

"You don't have to," she said. Her hand lifted with a black Magic circle at the palm.

"Raven…" Gildarts started. She was going to attack him but he couldn't bring himself to defend. So he chose to stand there and take the brunt of it.

"I… Win for us, ok? **Dark Spears** ," she said. A dark spear of black shot forward but curved sharply and went right through her head.

"RAVEN!" Gildarts shouted at the girl. In turn, she shrilled in pain. The spear aimed for the nerve and she had sent it right through her head. She normally hit a person in the arm or leg, or occasionally the stomach and they were able to get right back up after a few seconds of intense pain but for her, the pain was too much and she collapsed, unconscious.

. . . . .

When Raven finally woke up, it was dark out. She sat up on the bed she was sitting on and looked around. It appeared she was in a hospital. Throwing off the blanket that lay on her, she stood up and put her shoes on. Luckily they were beside her bed. Her cloak was taken off and she honestly felt both vulnerable yet strong. She always had her cloak on these days but with it off, her power doubled.

"You're finally awake," a voice said from the door of the room.

"Um… I'm sorry but who are you?" Raven asked cautiously. There was a blonde middle aged woman standing there with a tray of food.

"I'm the nurse in charge of taking care of you. My name is Darlene," she said.

"Oh, then thank you for watching over me," Raven said cheerfully.

"It was not a problem. You have no injuries aside from being a little overwhelmed and tired. I've brought some food for you," Darlene said, setting the tray down on the bed.

"Thanks. Right, do you know where my companion is? His name is Gildarts," Raven said, picking up the cup of water that was brought along.

"He's with the rest of the towns' people, currently helping with the cure. I… can't tell you how grateful I am… I arrived here a little less than three weeks ago and I couldn't leave once I heard about the disease. I was so afraid but I decided to help here as a nurse so that I could make people better," Darlene said with a sad smile. "But now, I'm free and safe. Thank you."

"It was really nothing. I'm glad you and everyone else are safe now," Raven said, blushing. Darlene thanked her again before leaving with a wave. Raven sat there and ate while thinking. There's a cure now, that's good. Once she finished eating, she made her way out of the hospital and followed the noise that was quite obvious to anyone. It was cheering.

Raven walked over and saw a crowd surrounding something. Squishing in between the people, she made her way to the very center of the circle. Then her face broke out into a smile.

"Gildarts!" she cheered as she ran over to the man.

"Raven, thank god! I would hug you but I'm a little busy here," he said.

"I can see that," she said with a chuckle.

There were currently two tables set up and shit ton of needles present. On each of the tables, aside from the needles, were two large containers filled with some kind of bright green liquid. Gildarts would take a clean needle, pick up some of the liquid, disinfect the arm, and then inject the liquid into a victims arm. Sitting at the other table was a very young looking man. She walked over to him.

"Hello, you must be Raven, one of the saviours of this town," he said not looking up from the patient he was seeing.

"I wouldn't say saviour… but I am Raven. Who are you?" she asked.

"My name is Nagomu and I'm one of the best doctors around," he said with a bit of pride in his voice. Raven smiled at that.

"Did you make this cure?" she asked.

"Yup, three hours after being handed a sample of a few victims' blood and saliva as well as learning of what the cause was," he said, finally looking at her.

"That's amazing," she said in awe.

"The reason I became a doctor was to help anyone I could," he said with a grin before calling the next patient. Raven sat and watched for the next two hours as everyone received their own cure. Even Gildarts and Raven were injected just in case they were affected.

. . . . .

The two woke up the next morning in the same inn room they had first slept in.

"I can't believe we did it!" Raven said with a grin. Gildarts smiled at the girl before frowning.

"We were too tired to talk about it last night but… I want to now. It's about when you hit yourself," Gildarts said.

"Ok wait. Before we continue let me say this now. I knew my attack would not harm me permanently or physically. And if I hadn't done that and say you lost, I don't think I would've been able to win… Also, what _did_ you do while I was out?" Raven ended up asking. Gildarts just sighed. He knew she was right.

"Just… please don't hurt yourself again. And after you did that, I was freed from the runes which Fredrick was really not expecting. I beat him and then removed everyone from the factory before destroying it. I sent Fredrick and his comrades to the Magic council of Bosco and called in a doctor to help cure everyone. The waters were poisoned with the Magic residue," Gildarts said with a shrug.

"Huh, well I can't promise you anything. If I need to do it again to protect a comrade and win, I will. And, wow you're amazing," Raven said.

"Let's just get ready to go home," Gildarts said, shaking his head. Raven smirked sheepishly at him before packing her things and getting some food ready. The people of Lebar threw a huge party for them last night which had resulted in them being exhausted as well as Gildarts getting exceptionally drunk. They had gotten their reward, which was increased by quite a bit because they essentially saved the town, and a huge amount of food for their travels. When they left the inn, they were once again surrounded by people.

"Thank you so much! I can go see my little girl now," a man cried to them. He was someone who wasn't allowed to leave after stepping foot inside the town.

"I… Thank you, I can't thank you enough," a woman shouted to them. She was someone who lived in Lebar and was close to dying.

"Bless you hearts! You saved my sons' life," another woman praised them. She was someone who had already lost her husband in this chaos but was able to keep her son.

Gildarts and Raven awkwardly laughed and held a hand to the back of their heads; it was a trait Raven had picked up from Gildarts. They walked through the crowd, shaking hands and receiving hugs and gifts.

"I'm glad you're all safe," Raven said to them.

When they finally reached the town gates, they were already tired from all the praise they had gotten.

"Well, at least we got paid a lot," Gildarts said with a grin. Raven rolled her eyes.

"You know, it's not _all_ about the money," she said.

"I know that," he replied with a pout.

"Well, ready for the second half of our training journey?" Raven asked with a grin.

"I'm ready to train you harder than before," Gildarts said with his own evil smirk.

"I can take whatever you throw at me," she replied.

. . . . .

"Ah sweet Magnolia," Raven said, pleased to being home.

"I take it you're going home? Or the guild?" Gildarts asked.

"We can walk to the guild together. It's still early in the day so Erza would probably be at the guild if not on a mission herself," Raven said. Gildarts nodded as the two of them walked to Fairy Tail.

"You did well," Gildarts said, looking at the young girl with fondness in his eyes. Raven blushed and smiled brightly. She never had gotten used to praise.

"Thank you for taking me along," Raven said politely. Gildarts chuckled at the girl.

"I'll be off soon for another job," he said after a while. Raven frowned before sighing.

"It's what makes you happy. I'll only get stronger while you're away! I'll become as strong as you! Come home fast though," Raven said.

"I really do believe you will," he said, ruffling her hair. They had made it to the guild. Raven smiled before she kicked open the guild doors like she always did when she came back from a job.

"I'm back!"


	22. Home Sweet Home

**Chapter Twenty One**

"Raven!" Erza called as she ran towards the girl and hugged her tightly.

"Er-chan! I thought you would've been on a mission," Raven said as she hugged the girl just as tight. Before Erza could respond, Natsu ran over.

"Gildarts, fight me!" he shouted at said man. Gildarts just chuckled and walked out the guild, prompting Natsu to follow. Raven laughed at the two before sitting down with Erza and the rest of the children.

"Hey, everyone!" she said with a smile. They all returned the smile.

"How was your first S-Class job!?" Levy asked curiously.

"Yea, tell us all about it," Cana slurred. Raven raised an eyebrow.

"Cana-chan… are you drunk?" she asked. Said girl just slammed her head on the table, out.

"Come on, tell us the story already!" Gray encouraged. Raven as she shot right into the tale.

"What!? Stealing someone else's life!?" Lisanna said, covering her mouth in horror.

"Would've given him a severe beating," Mirajane muttered.

"Let her finish," Erza told Mira.

"What was that!?" Mira challenged.

" _Any_ way," Raven continued, interrupting the two before they started fighting. Then she continued off from where she stopped before.

"You shot yourself!?" Erza nearly screamed at the black haired girl. Raven just laughed guiltily.

"Uh, that's beside the point…" Raven said and quickly finished off the story before Erza could really punish her.

"Woah, that's amazing," Lisanna breathed out.

"I guess… it was mostly Gildarts though," Raven put out there.

"No, it was both of you," Erza said with a kind smile. Raven smiled back.

"Thanks Er-chan. I'm going to head home now and relax, ok? I'll see ya at home," Raven said and picked up her bag still filled with a bit of food and a lot of gifts.

"Alright," Erza said, waving to her with a smile. The red head was in a much better mood after finally being able to see her non-biological sister.

As Raven left the guild, she stretched and admired the sun that was high up in the sky.

"Another beautiful day. It feels good to be back home," she said.

. . . . .

After reaching home and collapsing on her bed, Raven rolled over and stared at her ceiling. She had had three weeks to think about what had happened on her mission. Each day she thought about it, the more is solidified her want to learn another type of Magic that could've gotten them out of that mess. Finally after much thought, she jumped out of her bed and put on her shoes, heading to the library.

"Hello, Raven. I haven't seen you in a while! What are you looking for today?" Kaori, the librarian, asked.

"Hey Kaori-chan! I was on a job for that time. Also, I'm looking for a book on teleportation," Raven said. Kaori raised an eyebrow.

"Teleportation Magic? I think I _might_ have a book or two on it. It's not something many people look into so it was even less likely to be made into a book," the librarian said as she began to walk up and down the shelves filled with books.

"Hmm, is it a bad Magic?" Raven asked innocently.

"All Magic is unique but I wouldn't consider it bad," Kaori said as she pulled a purple book off the shelf.

"But not good?" Raven asked again. Kaori held out the book in her hands.

"Any Magic can be good. It depends on how the user uses it. This is the book you're looking for," Kaori said with a kind smile.

"Thank you! I'll have it back in no time," Raven said with a grin. Kaori chuckled.

"Dear, I've known you for so long. Take your time with the book because I know you'll bring it back. Plus, I don't think anyone else is looking for that book," Kaori said. Raven grinned and said goodbye to the kind librarian before heading out.

. . . . .

An hour had passed and Raven had her eyes glued to the book. It was a bit complicated but interesting. Raven learnt that depending on the amount of Magic she used and her experience and skill, she _could_ have escaped the rune trap. She could have even taken Gildarts had she been extremely skilled at it. Raven took a sip of her water as she turned to the last page of the book.

"Hmm, it seems like I have something else to work on aside from what Gildarts gave me… Empathy will have to wait," Raven said, shutting close the book and putting it aside. She got up from her living room and went out to the garden.

"Ah, what a mess," she muttered. The watering lacrimas had worked perfectly, but with no one to trim her garden, everything grew too much. "I'll work on it tomorrow," she finally decided before heading upstairs to take a shower. After her shower, she grabbed a quick bite before heading off to sleep.

"Good to be back home," she thought with a smile.

. . . . .

Two whole weeks had passed and Raven was only showing results now. Erza and her had gone to their usual training grounds and were doing their own things. Raven was concentrating hard and after a moment, a lavender coloured Magic circle appeared under Raven. She was immediately transported a whole… centimeter away. But she was ecstatic anyway.

"ERZA-CHAN! I did it!" she cheered. Erza glanced over with a smile.

"I also have accomplished something. Watch this," she said, sweat pouring from her head. Then she requiped two swords into her hands. She leapt forward, towards a few trees and then let out several slashes. Raven could see the Magic that followed the swords. As Erza landed, a whole chunk of trees fell to the ground.

"Damn, that was cool," Raven said with a wide smile. Erza laughed and they both got back to training.

. . . . .

Two months had passed before anything exceptionally exciting happened. Both Erza and Raven had taken jobs together, one S-Class, and the rest normal. Gildarts had left for his job and hadn't come back yet.

Raven had managed to teleport over a larger distance, a few miles now. She had even managed to teleport with Erza with her though they didn't go very far. Raven practiced by teleporting everywhere she needed to go. Needed to go to the bathroom? Teleport there! Needed to go to the guild? Teleport there! Raven was quite enjoying herself.

Of course, she worked on her other Magic as well as the things Gildarts told her to focus on and she had just finished mastering her latest Magic attack.

She lifted both her hands and connected them at the palms. A black ball soon appeared. Then Magic piled up and the little ball grew larger. After a few seconds, Raven finally released the Magic.

" **Execution Beam** ," Raven said. She had no idea it was named to darkly but it sounded cool. A hefty and large black beam shot forward and decimated several trees before dispersing.

"Wow," Erza said, amazed.

"And that's with my cloak on," Raven said with a grin.

"You're so strong," Erza said.

"Please, you're equally as strong," Raven said. Erza just smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Well I'm done training for the day," Erza said.

"Same, let's go back. Oh, I was going to show you this but I forgot," Raven said before sticking her arm out. Then she requiped three bracelets on, of course in _black_ leather. They had an intertwined look to them. But that wasn't what was important. Each bracelet had a lacrima jewel on them; one red, one blue, and the last was green.

"Those are pretty," Erza complimented. Raven grinned.

"Thanks but the real amazing thing is that they are Magic suppressors," Raven said.

"You got more," Erza deadpanned.

"Wait, wait hear me out. The cloak suppresses my Magic _strength_ by 50%. The red lacrima suppresses the _amount_ of Magic I can use by 50% now. And the blue one suppresses the strength _and_ amount of Magic by 50% once again. So that's halving my half! Therefore I can only use 25% of both my Magic strength and amount," Raven explained. Erza gave her an unimpressed look.

"So you're technically only using a quarter of your strength now," Erza stated.

"Yup!" Raven said with a proud smile on her face.

"And the one with the green lacrima?" Erza asked.

"I have two green ones actually. One is like the cloak and it suppresses my Magic strength by 50%. But if I'm wearing my cloak, I don't need it. But it matches and is part of a set so I got another one that does nothing and I can wear it along with the other two and my cloak!" Raven said with a grin. That made Erza laugh.

"You're too cute," she said. Raven pouted.

"Hey! No, I'm cool!" she argued.

"You keep telling yourself that," Erza giggled and the two walked back to the guild while arguing.

. . . . .

The two girls made their way to the guild and decided to rest for the day. Erza sat down at a table while Raven decided to go get some food at a restaurant. The two S-Class jobs she had gone on provided them with a lot of jewels.

"Hey, Raven," a voice called as she left the guild. She turned around.

"Oh Gray, what's up," she said.

"What are you doing now?" he asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Raven giggled at him.

"I'm going out to eat lunch. Wanna join me?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Only because you offered," he said.

"Aw, you're growing up," Raven said. Gray frowned.

"What's that supposed to mean," he asked.

"You no longer blush when I ask you to join me in doing stuff, Gray-sama," Raven teased. Gray blushed and she laughed at him. "I'm kidding," she said, trying to make him feel better. He just pouted and jerked his head the other way as they walked to a nice place to eat.

. . . . .

An hour into lunch and Raven was laughing while Gray told a story.

"So you're telling me that you and Natsu were dragged on a mission together by Master and you destroyed a whole _village_ while fighting each other!" Raven asked, tears pouring out of her eyes from laughing so hard. Gray smiled as he watched her grab her stomach because it was hurting.

"Yes I'm not even kidding! And then flame brain decided to light the Chief on fire!" Gray said. Raven began to laugh even harder, if that was even possible.

"I need to go on a mission with you two," Raven said. Gray's eyes brightened as he took his chance.

"Well Natsu won't be there but I'm going on a job with Cana and I was wondering if you wanted to come. And Erza too," Gray blurted out.

"Oh that sounds amazing! When do we leave?" Raven asked.

"In a few days," Gray replied.

"Cool, I'd be happy to come. I'd have to ask Erza but I'm sure she'll say yes," Raven said.

"Great!" he said, a tad bit too excited. Raven laughed and paid for their meal much to Gray's dismay and argument. Then the two walked back to the guild where they asked Erza.

"Sure, I will gladly come with you," she said, crossing her arms and nodding.

"How about we leave in three days?" Cana asked.

"That works for me," Raven said. Erza and Gray nodded.

"Then it's settled. We'll meet at the train station," Gray said. Everyone agreed and then they hung out for an hour.

"Rae, I'm going home now to cook dinner," Erza said.

"Alright, I'll be there in a bit," Raven said with a smile. Then she waved to the girl before reading over the paper she found in her pocket.

 _Meet me where we last went?_

 _M._

Raven chuckled and left the guild too before teleporting to the forest. After five more minutes of walking, she looked up a large tree and saw just the person she was looking for.

"Mystogan~" she called.

"Here," he said, and Raven could hear the smile in his voice. She teleported up and landed on the branch, sitting down.

"Long time," she said and grinned at the boy once he had taken off his disguise.

"How've you been?" he asked with a kind smile. It was nice talking to someone again.

. . . . .

Raven arrived home after an hour of talking to Mystogan. They had both chatted about the jobs they've been on and Raven really enjoyed herself again. Then she said goodbye, not knowing when she'd see Mystogan again. It was nice talking to him especially since she knew he didn't have the opportunity to make many friends.

"Dinner's ready!" Erza said as Raven walked in the house.

"Smells good," Raven called back and she smiled. Life was good.


	23. Kohaku

**Chapter Twenty Two**

The four children, now really teenagers, were sitting on a train and making their way to Feln Island which was somewhere south of Fiore. Their mission was a monster hunt one where they had to take down a monster that was terrorizing the village. It was said that monster brought sickness to whomever is in its presence for too long.

"I don't believe that," Gray said as they revised the job request.

"Hmm, stranger things have happened so I really wouldn't be surprised if it's true," Raven said. It was an hour's train ride to the port and two hours boat ride to the island. With nothing to do, Raven started humming.

"What are you singing?" Cana asked.

"I don't know, just a song that popped into my head I guess," Raven said.

"Ooh, why don't you sing for us?" Erza asked.

"Um, well I… ok why not," Raven said after a moment of hesitation. Then she took a deep breathe.

 _~I need another story  
Something to get off my chest  
My life gets kinda boring  
Need something that I can confess_

 _'Til all my sleeves are stained red  
From all the truth that I've said  
Come by it honestly I swear  
Thought you saw me wink, no  
I've been on the brink, so_

 _Tell me what you want to hear  
Something that will light those ears  
Sick of all the insincere  
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away_

 _This time don't need another perfect lie  
Don't care if critics ever jump in line  
I'm gonna give all my secrets away_

 _My God, amazing how we got this far  
It's like we're chasing all those stars  
Who's driving shiny big black cars  
And everyday I see the news  
All the problems that we could solve  
And when a situation rises  
Just write it into an album  
Send it straight to gold  
But I don't really like my flow, no, so_

 _Tell me what you want to hear  
Something that will light those ears  
Sick of all the insincere  
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away_

 _This time, don't need another perfect lie  
Don't care if critics ever jump in line  
I'm gonna give all my secrets away_

 _Oh, got no reason, got no shame  
Got no family I can blame  
Just don't let me disappear  
I'ma tell you everything_

 _So tell me what you want to hear  
Something that will light those ears  
Sick of all the insincere  
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away_

 _This time, don't need another perfect lie  
Don't care if critics ever jump in line  
I'm gonna give all my secrets away_

 _So tell me what you want to hear  
Something that will light those ears  
Sick of all the insincere  
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away_

 _This time, don't need another perfect lie  
Don't care if critics ever jump in line  
I'm gonna give all my secrets away  
All my secrets away, all my secrets away~_

( **watch?v=sY48BqCiyzo** )

Raven had sung the song softly and ended up actually soothing Cana to sleep while Gray and Erza listened, mesmerized.

"Where do you come up with all these amazing songs," Erza asked. Raven blushed.

"I'm not sure… they just come to me," she replied.

"It was incredible," Gray said and Raven blushed again at the praise.

"Thank you," she said and the four sat there, content, until the train arrived at the port.

. . . . .

After the two hour boat ride, the four teenagers arrived on the island. They stretched and went to go find details about their job by some of the island's inhabitants. Then they headed into the tropical forest that the island was covered by.

"So the monster is apparently purple and is slimy," Raven said.

"Whatever the monster is, we'll take it down," Erza said. The two mages were confident that this would be nothing.

"I hope its slime doesn't get on me," Cana said, taking a sip of her drink.

"Cana, are you drinking _again_. You know you shouldn't drink on a job. And you're underage!" Erza scolded but Cana took no notice of it. They proceeded to make their way through the thick foliage. For another hour and a half, the four walked through hot weather. Gray had striped the first minute of even just getting on the island and Raven had even requiped into a bikini top and shorts, taking her cloak off and replacing it with the green lacrima bracelet that did the same thing. Gray had to admit that he thought she was very pretty like that. Cana wore what she usually did, her bra top and a pair of jeans and Erza somehow was wearing her armor like usual.

"Er-chan, aren't you hot in that?" Raven asked in shock.

"You can never be too safe. I will keep wearing my armor for protection," Erza said. The other three just sweat dropped. They continued walking for a while longer before they heard a load roar followed by a child's scream.

"I think we found our monster," Raven joked as they immediately took off and ran towards where they heard the scream. As they approached the child, their eyes were drawn to the large butterfly looking beast that was indeed purple and indeed slimy.

"How are _butterflies_ _slimy_?" Cana asked.

"Who cares, I'll be taking it down," Gray said. Then he ran forward and attacked the large creature. " **Ice Make: Geyser**!" he shouted, sending a large stream of ice at the butterfly. The butterfly screeched as it used its wings to send wind at the ice and break it. The thing was larger than the guild!

" **Shuriken Cards** ," Cana said as she chucked her cards at the butterfly. The cards began to slice at the creature who screeched in pain this time and shook around. Slime flew everywhere as the butterfly flailed and a whole bunch was dumped on Gray. Raven merely raised a Force Block above her head, shielding Erza too, and not getting any of the slime on them. Raven laughed at Gray who was currently both disgusted and shocked. Even Cana had managed to get out of the way of the slime.

Gray growled as he froze the slime on him and then shattered it off. Raven raised an eyebrow because it had looked so cool! Then he ran towards the monster once more, intent on ending the fight.

" **Ice Make: Lance**!" he shouted. A light blue Magic circle appeared and spears of ice shot out, eventually taking down the butterfly. Then he glared at Raven and Erza who were standing aside and watching.

"You guys could've helped," he said.

"You looked like you were doing fine with Cana," Erza said as the two walked over to Gray.

"Anyway, wasn't there a kid here?" Raven asked.

"You're a kid yourself," Cana said with a laugh. Raven glared at her.

"Wasn't there a _young_ kid here?" Raven rephrased, pointedly looking at Cana.

"Jokes aside, you're right. We heard a scream," Gray said.

They decided to look around and ended up finding a ladder that lead to a tree fort just five minutes away. Cana, Gray, and Erza climbed the ladder to the top while Raven levitated up. They observed around and spotted a mop of blond hair hiding under a blanket.

"Um, excuse me," Raven called causing the figure to pull the blanket off and stare wide eyed at the intruders. It was a brown eyed little boy.

"Who-who are you?" he asked, clearly frightened.

"Hey, don't worry, we're friends. We just heard someone scream so we came to investigate," Raven explained, leaving out the part where they were actually sent to take down a monster butterfly.

"O-oh, um, that w-was me," he said with a deep blush.

"Are you alright?" Erza asked.

"Ye-yes, the Margafly just scared me, being s-so close to my h-house," the boy said shyly.

"You don't live with the rest of the people?" Gray asked curiously. The boy instantly became solemn.

"Th-they… d-don't like m-me," he said, his stuttering getting worse. Raven frowned.

"Why not?" she asked.

"They c-call me a monster. S-so I d-decided to g-g-go live with the r-real monsters in th-the forest," the boy said. Raven's frown deepened.

"What's your name?" she asked kindly.

"Kohaku Wilkins," he replied. Raven smiled at him and introduced the other three children.

"So why do they call you a monster?" Cana asked, the curiosity getting the better of her.

"B-because I can do t-this," he said and lifted a hand. A feather slowly materialized in his hand. Raven immediately perked up.

"That's Magic! Why don't you come back home with us. I'm sure everyone will love you!" she said with a grin.

"What!? Y-you just met me!" he blurted out. Raven's smiled softened.

"I just met you and I can already see that you are a very special and sweet child," she said gently. Kohaku blushed.

"Are… are you sure?" he asked seriously. The boy, who looked no more than six, had a very grave look on his face. Raven could instantly see the fear of rejection there as well as sadness.

"Of course! You can stay with Raven and me in our house!" Erza stated, knowing fully well that Raven completely agreed with her. Kohaku's face immediately brightened.

"Then I'll come with you!" he said happily, having found people who didn't outright insult and abandon him.

The five children now made their way back to the rest of the inhabitants of the island.

"Why is _he_ with you!?" they all asked. Raven scowled at them for treating a _six_ year old like this.

"We're taking him with us where he can join our family. We'll treat him right!" she said. Gray, who was standing next to Raven, gritted his teeth in anger. They were all shocked at how people could treat a child so poorly.

"Good riddance to him," a woman said. The four Fairy Tail children just glared and accepted their reward before leaving as soon as they could. They learnt that Kohaku didn't have many things and frowned at that. But they couldn't do anything about it so they took the two hour boat back to the port.

. . . . .

"The boat ride was so much fun!" Kohaku cheered. The four Fairy Tail children smiled at the younger kid.

"Next, we'll ride a train! Come, and I'll buy you some food!" Raven smiled and took the little boy's hand before taking him to get some candy. While they were off buying things, the other three children watched in amusement.

"I didn't know Raven could be so… motherly," Cana said.

"Raven is amazing," Erza said proudly and Gray couldn't help but agree. Then the two came back.

"I got you guys something as well!" Raven said with a grin, handing everyone a small bag of chocolates.

"You didn't have to…" Gray said, holding the bag and frowning. He hadn't done much for her but she had already bought him lunch and now these candies. Raven just laughed.

"I wanted to… uh Gray, you don't look so good" she said.

"I'm fine," he said, waving it off. Raven clearly didn't believe him but said nothing. They waited patiently for their train to come. Once it arrived, they all piled in. Erza sat next to Cana on one bench while Kohaku ended up sitting on Raven's lap and Gray sat next to her.

"I can't wait to go home and show Kohaku Fairy Tail!" Raven said excitedly. Everyone chuckled at her enthusiasm.

"What's a guild?" Kohaku asked interestedly. Raven was about to answer when she felt something land on her shoulder. She turned her head to see Gray leaning his head on her. She frowned.

"Gray, are you alright?" she asked with concern. He lazily waved his hand.

"Just… a bit… nauseous," he said. Raven placed her hand on his head.

"He's heating up. It seems like a mild fever," she concluded.

"We'll get him some medicine when we get back to Fairy Tail," Erza suggested and Raven nodded. She wrapped her arm around Gray and soothingly stroked her fingers through his hair as his head laid on her shoulder.

"Odd that an ice mage has a fever," Raven said with a giggle. But all Gray could think about was how nice her fingers felt. Then Raven began telling Kohaku about guilds with Cana and Erza interjected whenever Raven missed something. Even the sound of Raven's voice relaxed Gray and he quickly fell off to sleep.

"So Fairy Tail is home?" Kohaku asked. The three girls smiled at his question.

"Yes, Fairy Tail is definitely home," Raven replied.


End file.
